Comfrey the wonder plant???

Is comfrey a wonder plant? I read it can be magical for use as a fertilizer and for human medical use. Anyone use this magical plant, and why does it seem to be forgotten in modern day?!?

 

It's a very good plant for producing a DIY plant food which for many applications is better and certainly cheaper than shop bought products. As Marley says it does niff a bit, but I reckon that anything that smells that horrible just has to be full of goodness! The smell disappears after a day or two anyway.
If you do want to try growing your own comfrey bed, try to get hold of some Bocking 14 root cuttings rather than growing from seed. Bocking 14 is a sterile variety which means you won't end up with liitle comfrey seedlings popping up where you don't want them every Spring.
Henry Doubleday identified the potential of comfrey as as fertiliser (and horse food) in the late 19th century and his work was developed further by Lawrence D Hills in the 1950s and he developed the Bocking 14 variety and founded HDRA, the Henry Doubleday Research Association which is now generally know as Garden Organic.

The reason comfrey became forgotten? Well I think it was partly due to gardens becoming smaller - a comfrey bed takes a bit of space and partly because folk liked the 'quick fix' route of ready bought fertiliser. The situation seems to be changing a bit now as more folk are being drawn to the 'organic' mode of food production.


Can't comment on the medicinal uses, but I do know the Greeks used it and Culpepper regarded it as a medicinal herb so I wouldn't rule it out.

 

Thx for that guys.
I tried using stinging nettles to produce a liquid feed. That one did smell like a farmyard. Didn't seem to do much for my plants though!?!
Any suggestions?

 

I grow Boking 14 on my land for 3 reasons.

1. To use in the compost heap (I'm not going to do the liquid feed thing).
2. Bumblebees love the flowers
3. It is very, very deep rooted, and where I've planted it there is slow but steady erosion going on. I'm hoping to slow down that erosion.

On the nettle feed thing, I'm led to believe (but can't confirm because I'm not a chemist) that nettles hold a lot of nitrogen, so would be good for plant foliage growth, but perhaps not so good for flowers and fruit.