Removing Comfrey
PyreneesPlot Offline
Mountain Dweller
#1
I'm trying to remove a patch of common comfrey because I'm a cretin and planted it in the middle of the veg garden where it self seeds everywhere! 
So far I've probably snapped 95% of the tap roots at the depth of a fork because my subsoil is boulders in clay, perfect for burying and hanging on to long roots Sad What chance it won't all just grow back?
On the plus side the soil is lovely underneath Smile
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Hautes-Pyrénées (65), France
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Admin Offline
The Boss
#2
I was invested with the stuff and after 7 years it is managable, on the deepest and thickest roots I had no choice but to poison them
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Vinny Offline
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
#3
Move house. Cry
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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PyreneesPlot Offline
Mountain Dweller
#4
I can't!! We built this one and it isn't quite finished  Blush  Big Grin
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Hautes-Pyrénées (65), France
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PyreneesPlot Offline
Mountain Dweller
#5
I'll just have to harvest a lot more often, I guess.
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Hautes-Pyrénées (65), France
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Veggie Online
Super Pest Controller
#6
I have a lot of the white comfrey seeding everywhere - and have the same problems digging it up. Since I can't dig it out I've learned to accept it and regard it as beneficial!
If you keep cutting the leaves (before it flowers) and using them as mulch its all good. Being in the middle of your veg plot means you can just scatter them around your veg without having to walk anywhere. Smile
The Moneyless Chicken says:- 
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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doublyjonah Offline
Member
#7
PP, did your comfrey all come back? I'm wondering if I can reduce the size of the patch on the allotment and if there's any chance of growing something in that space.
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PyreneesPlot Offline
Mountain Dweller
#8
Yes it did.
After digging out as much as I could, the patch spent a year under cardboard, the voles munched plenty and yet there's still seems to be almost as much. The drought last summer did slow it down a bit!
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Hautes-Pyrénées (65), France
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Veggie Online
Super Pest Controller
#9
(04-11-2020, 09:02 PM)Veggie Wrote: I have a lot of the white comfrey seeding everywhere - and have the same problems digging it up. Since I can't dig it out I've learned to accept it and regard it as beneficial!
If you keep cutting the leaves (before it flowers) and using them as mulch its all good. Being in the middle of your veg plot means you can just scatter them around your veg without having to walk anywhere. Smile
I'm still trying to dig out the comfrey that's in the wrong place but I leave it growing around the fruit bushes and trees. Cutting off the leaves and dropping them around the bushes feeds them.
Maybe plant in the comfrey patch instead of trying to dig it up?
The Moneyless Chicken says:- 
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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doublyjonah Offline
Member
#10
Thanks, PP. I had a feeling that might be the answer!

Veggie, what kind of things would be able to grow with pushy comfrey popping up around it and presumably the world's deepest most established roots hogging the ground?

I assume mine is a sterile variety - hasn't seeded around the plot although I let it get flowers for the bees, and has pinky/purple flowers. I think it's been there quite a while.
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