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Bocking 14?

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in Plants
Does anyone grow a lot of Boking 14? I'd be interested to hear about the range of ways that people use it. Can it be inter-planted with other perennials successfully? I hear that people often plant it on waste land, out of the way. I don't have anywhere like that, so am planning to mix it in with other natives. Any thoughts on the plant welcome.

Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I didn't know you could even get sterile comfrey. I was just about to plant out my regular comfrey this weekend and I might have to think again now...
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I understand other types take over, rather. Boking 14 are long lived plants, they say, thriving for 30 years and giving a lot all the way....   green gold.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I use comfrey several ways: put in the compost bin; chop it up and stuff it into screw top jars, fill them with water and wait a few weeks before using it as a liquid feed; stuff handfuls of chopped leaves at the bottom of planting holes when planting things like tomatoes that need potassium.  Bocking 14 is great because you get the flowers for the bees, but no seed.  At the end of the summer when the flowers have finished, I cut it to ground level, trample it to crush the big stalks, and strew it round my currant bushes.
  • tessagardenbarmytessagardenbarmy Posts: 346
    It's absolutely fabulous in garden and allotment but I keep them confined to a specific area as they spread like mad even though they don't seed. Make liquid feed, use leaves neat as a mulch, put in the bottom of a bean trench or as a compost booster. And the bees and insects love it so I have a big patch near my trees and fruit bushes to aid pollination. It's a winner all round.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    I've got a clump (began life as 5 root slips) in a border that's been there about 7 or 8 years now. It has spread, but not much - one shoot now comes up perhaps a foot in front of the rest. It's growing against an old wall, between big shrubs. The bees love love love it in flower. I cut it a couple of times each year to make plant food tea for the tomatoes in the polytunnel. 

    I also have some more now - only 2 years old - growing along a new boundary bank. It holds its own amongst stinging nettles, apple mint and cow parsley. I haven't cut it yet - too young. I'm planning to cut it and chop it as a mulch around my 4 apple trees.

    And the third clump is in a corner of the veg garden. That one is 3 years old so I cut for the first time last autumn and shredded (hand ripped) the leaves and spread it with compost mulch around the soft fruit for a bit of extra potassium. 

    It's by no means a troublesome garden plant IME, but perhaps my soil is difficult (acidic clay) so it's less adventurous than when it's in better ground.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Thanks for all the info. I'm much looking forward to getting mine going and sharing it with my club. Does it spread by runners? I hope mine will be happy mixed in with everything else.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    There's more here on Boking 14 and its development if others are interested.
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