Kitchen Garden Forum

I have some comfrey in my garden but I've also got vast quantities of alkanet which is also the borage family. I'm finding it hard to get rid of as the roots are so deep. Anyway, could I use the leaves along with the comfrey to make comfrey tea, or is this not a good idea? Any advice welcome.
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Granny

Granny, it is an excellent idea. In addition to the potassium which you will be adding, members of the borage family also provide silica and phosphorus, and when eventually diluted, the resulting "tea" will make a super organic plant food - no need to worry about "correct proportions" - the plants will take what they need, without getting indigestion!
Regards, Lyn

Thanks a lot Lyn, I can now have a more positive attitude to something I was beginning to despair of! A good example of how useful this forum is. I've been wondering about this for some time as alkanet might have had some secret toxic property, and it's not the sort of thing you'd easily find in a book. Not the sort of book I've got, anyway.
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Granny

Don't worry Granny - alkanet is not toxic - it is used in herbal medicine as a cough syrup and emollient.
Regards, Lyn

Q: What is alkanet and what does it look like?
On comfrey, I put ordinary comfrey heeled-in for one season, and did I regret it! It went everywhere and it took me 2 years to dig it out. I got some Bocking 14 comfrey, which comes in root cuttings, and that is great, stays in nice easily-managed clumps, and you can cut it down every time it grows too big and use it for plant-food or compost or mulch.
Alison.

Like this

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/alkanet.htm

Alan

Lovely picture, Alan. Why did you ask about it, Alison - just general interest or were you thinking of getting some for yourself? The website says most of it. Take particular note of what it says about the roots - they are absolutely horrendous to dig out; they seed prolificly but the seedlings are easy to pull out. They look fabulous when newly flowering but sprawl all over the place at the end of the season and the leaves go greyish brown and the whole lot looks awful. The hairy stems are quite painful, especially when they're old. Good for a large, informal garden.

Oh that's a great picture! Right - we have plenty of this! It seeds itself quite widely, and now I know what it is, which is very useful.
Many thanks,
Alison.