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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 3, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 3, 2020
 
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HABSTINE Omfrey is one of permacul- ture’s most famous function- stacking plants. It’s so easy to raise, propagate and share that there’s no rea- son to omit it from your garden, where you’ll never run out of uses for it. Fall is a good time to plant it for spring use. Unless you want your plots ‘ to become a comfrey farm, make sure you’re growing a sterile cultivar. Running comfreys produce viable seeds and quickly overtake avail- able land. A plant breeder in the United Kingdom de- veloped a seed-sterile strain from which he could clone. (Like grocery bananas, these comfreys are genetic copies.) Booking 4 and Bocking 14, named after the region in Es- sex, sprout readily from root pieces. A story makes clear just how vigorously they sprout from root bits. A local farm planted comfrey for compost enrichment, and uprooted some plants to chop into the pileéz'i’hat compost never heat- ed up to the 140 degrees that would sterilize weed seeds and comfrey root pieces. The compost was finished, cured, By ALEX s FETHIERE The comforts ofcomfrey , and spread through- out the beds — and only then did the pieces activate, each producing a new comfrey plant wher- ever it landed. By the time the farmer noticed, the new plants had root- ed. Excavating them . invariably left‘intact ' root fragments, which sprouted further. Bock- ing 14 and 4 cannot be evicted once established. Much of the farm’s land was smothered by comfrey, and it was from this Booking 14 plantation that I brought several plants to Harstine'Island to use and share with due care. A further note to that end: though comfrey has been used as a vegetable, tea and medicine for two millennia, the FDA banned oral prepara— tions containing comfrey after studies emerged showing that it causes liver toxicity. As such, we should confine Our explorations to external and garden uses. ' A Harstine farmer I told about my comfrey shared that comfrey helped him at an unlikely time. In Febru- ary there is no aerial growth, only a dormant root. So when he burned himself with a dol- lop. of molten plastic, be dug up a piece of root and inade a plaster with it. He explained that allantoin, which stimu- lates cell growth and heals wounds and broken bones, concentrates in the roots over winter. The quarter-sized burn healed quickly without. scarring. One Harstine homesteader ‘ reports that comfrey has been effective for heating up his compost, hosting bees, spiders and ladybugs, and feeding his chickens. Other animals that enjoy it as fodder include pigs and cattle. Parasitoid wasps also associate with comfrey and hunt garden pests like cabbageworm and aphids. I use it to make liquid ma: nure, for which it can be out three to four times a year. This tea is rich in phosphorus and potassium, particularly beneficial to fruiting plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Even naysayers admit that comfrey contains significant calcium, which our bioregion’s soils always need. For this stinky tea, 2 1/2 pounds of comfrey should be steeped in 1/2 gallons of water for 10 days. Per Eric Fisher’s “Compost Teas for the Organic Grower,” this should be diluted 7:1 for foliar application, or used neat‘as a root feed via a sunken con- tainer. I give liberal lashings PICKING UP ITEMS: RETURNING’ITEMS: by phone. directly in the bins E No bags in the bins » Quéstions? 'AskLib@TRL.org or Live Chat'on TRL.org. Checkthe schedule — online or - Please place your materials - No donations at this time - Place Library materials on hold — online or by phone V - Wait for notification your holds are ready — email or phone - Arrive at the Library (1 — 5 pm.) look for Library Takeout signs - Call or text once you’ve arrived (numbers are on thesigns) - Follow directions on safely picking up your materials AVAILABLE! Visit TRL.org/takeout for details " Library buildings are still closed to the public. No public access, no meeting rooms, no restrooms, and no computer use at this time.‘ - NOW of it to everything in my gar- dens and orchards throughout V the season. Comfrey makes a fantastic fertilizer mulch. The Univer- sity of Minnesota calculated its total NPK (immediate and delayed availability) at 3.7-1.21-8.4. It also contains necessary trace minerals such as boron, calcium and copper. Permaculturists often deploy it via the “chop and drop” method, which works exactly how it sounds. The leaves provide an abundant source of biomass. Bulgaria’s Balkan Ecology i is pictured 49" growing in companion- ship with a pattypan squash. Of 20 squash plants, this one yielded the best and grew most expansively. Journal photo by Alex Fe’thiére Project states that they’ve harvested up to 6 pounds per plant, per cutting (at two to six times per year). This organic matter helps enrich our thinning tOpsoils. Not bad for a plant that I misplaced a piece of on a path, which then appeared a year later. I Alex Féthiere has lived on Harstine Island long enough to forget New York City, where he built community gardens and double-dug his suburban sod into a victory garden. He can be reached at onlandist@ gmail.c0m. "oumrv Serving Western Washington for over 50 years #AlROOl*1 1 1 PR $599 on 10% OFF mmumm ON ANY NEW ROOF OR RE-ROOF Call us now for a free estimate (360)456-3822 Lm‘lpum. l mwwwmm.mmuwnmumuwm WORKMANSHIP! ‘l rootin'" #A1R00|*111PR