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Post by rowanberry on Jun 4, 2015 21:02:31 GMT
I noticed today that some of the comfrey I've planted for the bees has nearly finished blooming...if I were to cut it back once it's completely dropped all its flowers, will it have a second growth for later on in the summer? I seem to remember reading somewhere to do that, but I'm worried about cutting it back too much and damaging the plants, (although I know comfrey is pretty resilient!)  |
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Post by aeshna5 on Jun 5, 2015 17:31:17 GMT
You won't damage it + at this time of year it will soon produce fresh foliage. Makes good compost.
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Post by rowanberry on Jun 9, 2015 22:19:59 GMT
That's reassuring- I didn't want to damage it so that it couldn't recover. I'll probably leave it until the weather warms up... the poor bees are having a hard time at the moment trying to find pollen, and they do like the comfrey. I won't cut it until all the flowers have fallen off.
Thanks, aeshna!
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Post by NellyDee on Oct 8, 2015 12:56:45 GMT
Came back to this post out of interest. To see if I could pick up hint on my comfrey. Not having any success having planted out seedlings in May they have only grown about 5" no sign of getting buds even. Hey ho, probably don't like the environment here.
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Post by rowanberry on Oct 8, 2015 21:34:18 GMT
Where abouts in the garden did you put them, Nellie? Mine are in a slightly shaded spot, and have done ok this year- I got a decent second growth on them after cutting them back earlier, although they didn't flower very well. I think the weather was partially to blame for that, though. Also, are yours the self-seeding ones, or the other sort? I seem to have two kinds- one is the narrow-leafed variety in the photo I posted back in June, while the other has a much broader leaf, (will try and get a photo of that one tomorrow.) I think they are naturally a more woodland plant, and do prefer being out of direct wind and sunlight, (or at least mine seem to be.) They are under some conifers, and so only get dappled sun, (when we have any, that is!  ) |
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Post by NellyDee on Oct 9, 2015 9:44:48 GMT
I have a long approx. 30ft raised bed which is backed by and along an 8ft height wall. The idea being that I would have a herb/herbal garden along the back of the house. It only get sunshine from about mid-day to mid-afternoon, but is sheltered from the heavy winds that belt down the mountain on the slopes of which I live. The comfrey is tuberous the native Scots variety and bears creamy yellow flowers, so am really disappointed that it does not seem happy. I do have problems here with what to grow, however other plants are doing really well, to my surprise parsley, which comes up of it's own accord every year, the borage has gone bananas this year and has flowered twice. The hyssop, Scots lovage, wild fennel, sweet cicely, French tarragon, sage, wild thyme, ordinary thyme, oregano and chives all flowered and are now in seed, which I am hoping will self seed so I can move to plant among other plants in the actual garden. The comfrey just did not want to grow and surprisingly the lemon balm and the mint.
I got all the plants from a small family company that specialises in developing herbs and herbal plants on The Black Isle -Up beyond Inverness, Ross and Cromarty and planted them all out in the Spring (apart from the parsley, chives and wild mint. I wanted plants that were bee and insect friendly, not necessarily for cooking etc.
Maybe the comfrey is just slow to establish itself and hopefully I wont lose it over winter. I note your point about planting under conifers, might try there, the actual garden is surrounded by beech, conifers mainly but is mixed woodland.
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Post by rowanberry on Oct 9, 2015 19:36:46 GMT
I've never had much luck with borage, except in pots in our previous garden which was just a small courtyard and got good light. Our garden now is quite shaded, (hardly any sun at all in the winter) so there are a lot of herbs don't do very well here, (my poor sage!) but the comfrey is one that fortunately is happy under trees. I've never tried the one with the yellow flowers, but I wanted to get some plug plants of it next year. These are the two I've got- the big-leaved one, with the thinner leafed variety beside it. They are still doing surprisingly well, considering how late in the year it is now, even though not many flowers now. The real challenge is keeping the slugs off of them long enough in the spring to allow them time to get to a decent size! As you can see, the nettles are still going strong, too.   |
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Post by NellyDee on Oct 10, 2015 8:57:44 GMT
I shall have another go with both next year. Been really odd this year with very few slugs and those that I have seen have been where I have not expected to see them, like on our gravel pathways - can't understand it. My Veg patch was a disaster everything bolted and the leaves were attacked not by slugs but by insects and something has been digging around their bases, I can only think it is the pine martens as the patch is fenced off so badger and deer cannot get in. What ever it is has smallish foot print. I did put up trail camera but did not pick up anything.
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