[shokkyy]

I started a comfrey bed last year, but I'm not entirely sure I want a foul smelling toxic waste dump of the stuff in a water butt in my garden, so I guess I'll look into ways of using it dry

[gavinjconway]

Thanks - better get on with making some for the soft fruit and broad beans then.  Not asparagus I suppose. What can I give that?

For asparagus - In spring add a dose of general fertilizer such as Growmore or BFB..

[gavinjconway]

I started a comfrey bed last year, but I'm not entirely sure I want a foul smelling toxic waste dump of the stuff in a water butt in my garden, so I guess I'll look into ways of using it dry

Shokky - keep a lid on it and you wont even know its there.. honest.. mine is at my gate next to the GH so i'm next to it a lot and no smell at all with the lid on.

I reckon you are limited using it dry or green - can go into potato trenches or compost heaps..

[shokkyy]

Shokky - keep a lid on it and you wont even know its there.. honest.. mine is at my gate next to the GH so i'm next to it a lot and no smell at all with the lid on.

I reckon you are limited using it dry or green - can go into potato trenches or compost heaps..

How about sticking it underneath my runner and French beans? That's where I was thinking of putting it. And frankly, anything that makes my garden compost better would be a big plus. I really need a lot of compost for topping up raised beds, and my compost is pathetic. I've got 4 big wooden bins plus 3 or 4 daleks, and I've yet to make anything better than a medium ideally suited for propagating weed seedlings.

[Pilko]

I reckon you are limited using it dry or green

Agree with that, I chopped up a load of fresh comfrey leaves and used as a top dressing but with the wet weather some of the pieces started to grow.

[surbie100]

I started a comfrey bed last year, but I'm not entirely sure I want a foul smelling toxic waste dump of the stuff in a water butt in my garden, so I guess I'll look into ways of using it dry

Couldn't you make a comfrey press if you still want liquid - and minimal smell?

[gavinjconway]

Shokky - in the bean trench will work well... Another way is to get a big tub or strong plastic bag with a small hole in the bottom. Fill it with chopped leaves, tie the top  and hang it behind the shed with a can under the hole. In a few weeks drips will start to drip out and that is now pure tea... dilute and use from there.. no smell.

[moose]

Personally I think the smell is being rather over-egged. It does smell if you go and smell it, my water butt of tea is only a few feet from my door and nobody complains about a smell. I stuff the leaves into mesh bags and leave them there till the late autumn when I drain off any liquid left and take the bags to the compost bin and tip the remains there. Yes, that does smell but it is gone quite quickly.

[J_B]

must try this

[Beetroot queen]

Personally I think the smell is being rather over-egged. It does smell if you go and smell it, my water butt of tea is only a few feet from my door and nobody complains about a smell. I stuff the leaves into mesh bags and leave them there till the late autumn when I drain off any liquid left and take the bags to the compost bin and tip the remains there. Yes, that does smell but it is gone quite quickly.

Take the peg off your nose. Cor blimey you must have a nose made of steel. Hehe  the stuff stinks like a sewage farm

[J_B]

o gsh maybe i wont try it then

[Beetroot queen]

o gsh maybe i wont try it then

It's good stuff but it stinks, we store ours in a lidded water butt and then it's fine, till you take the lid off 

[Yana]

After reading all the comments about the stink, I am sooooooo glad I am planning on having the 'tea' at the lottie. Double bargain.... The plot where the butts are not near many other plots so the smell shouldn't offend anyone.

[seaside]

In my experience any of the teas only smell for a couple of minutes when you stir it up. I was working outside of Okehampton today. The sheep farmer next door, who's a fine man, was muck spreading big time for good grass, maybe even the contents of his own septic tank, which of course is quite rightly legal. Now that's a smell.