[kattcottrell]

I think I remember reading somewhere that people grow the perp spinach especially for their chickens.

[muntjac]

its me :oops:

sow it for winter feed as big a patch as you can i used to have a full bed for just this purpose they love it just sow thickly 4/5 packets water and forget till winter sow in sept october for winter or spring if you want to ....oh and dont forget to feed them loads of comfrey if you have it ..( we have tons sorry    ) i just chop down a handfull and then chop it smaller in the coop and believe me its all gone in the morning stalks and all

[dawnsmith]

Excuse my ignorance......what's comfrey?   :oops:  :oops:

[compostqueen]

I wondered about that yesterday when in the garden cutting it for planting under cabbages for the hens

Will give them some today

Thanks for the tip  

Comfrey is a plant of many uses, eg herbal ointments etc but it makes a good compost activator and liquid feed for plants, oh and chook food as Munty has just told us  

[kattcottrell]

its me :oops:

sow it for winter feed as big a patch as you can i used to have a full bed for just this purpose they love it just sow thickly 4/5 packets water and forget till winter sow in sept october for winter or spring if you want to ....oh and dont forget to feed them loads of comfrey if you have it ..( we have tons sorry    ) i just chop down a handfull and then chop it smaller in the coop and believe me its all gone in the morning stalks and all

Aha twas you  something else to add to my garden centre shopping list. What about the comfry, does that come in seed form?

[muntjac]

no but we send a tuber or 2 for postal refund ... pm address if you wish it can go out witha present request for some

[lellysmum]

well guys thanks for all the help and advice on spinach - just had a beautiful egg from pickle and it was a double yolker and its only the third egg she's ever laid so i will continue to give her spinach as a treat

[Aunt Sally]

For Comfrey take a look on one of John's pages

http://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/comfrey/index.php

He's a fount of information  

[kattcottrell]

thanks for the link Aunt sally but I think i'll pass on growing comfrey, it seems quite rampent and I keep getting flash backs to when I planted a chocolate mint plant at the bottom of the garden, blooming stuff kept poppin up all over the garden for years, wouldn't have been so bad but could never think of anyway to use it, it smelt delicious, just like a mint frys chocolate cream, think thats why I bought it in the first place :roll:

[Aunt Sally]

It can indeed be very rampant.

I'll take a picture today of one of the "vacant" plots on our site to show you what can happen in a year with comfrey  :shock:

[Aunt Sally]

All this Comfrey has self seeded this year on a plot near mine :shock:



I'm going to have good compost  

[kattcottrell]

Youzer!!!  :o nope, don't think I'll bother, thanks for the pics, you've stopped me making a HUUUGE mistake

[peggyprice]

Bocking 14 is the sort of comfrey you want - it's sterile, so doesn't seed itself everywhere.  Think it might still spread through its roots - but I've heard of people growing it in dustbins so as to contain it (v similar to mint   ).

Great stuff for the allotment if you can find a way to keep it in check  

PS Just remembered - it's also used by herbalists as knitbone - could do with some for my wrist  :?