✍️ A few things I've learned in the garden...
during the first half of 2024
We are past halfway for 2024. With over half of the year in the rear-view mirror, I wanted to share some things I’ve learned from my experiences so far this year.
Comfrey plants are remarkable
When I became interested in growing food, it wasn’t long before I found myself in the world of permaculture. Permaculture is a blend of the words “permanent” and “agriculture”. It is a holistic, design-based approach to sustainably growing food. It is here, in this realm, that I began to come across a different set of plants than the typical vegetables that you find in vegetable growing books and guides. Comfrey was one of these new plants.
I had read and heard about the leaves of the plant being good to use as mulch. I also heard it isn’t easy to eradicate. But I had never had experience with the plant. Not until this year.
Actually, it was last year when I got two pots from a friend. She was cleaning out a portion of her garden to make room for other plants and in the process dug up some comfrey and potted it. Morgan and I took two pots and stuck them in a flower bed, under a tree, where they sat for months. Eventually I planted the comfrey in another location where they are now thriving. Something peculiar happened, though. This spring, a comfrey plant popped up where the potted comfrey sat for a few months. Apparently, the roots of the plants went down into the soil from the pots, and when I pulled them up part of the root broke off and was left behind. Now it’s growing happily.
Here are a few things I’ve learned about Comfrey:
Once it roots in an area, it can be difficult to eradicate. It doesn’t spread and take over, but it does establish itself where it’s planted. It has an extensive root system with a long tap root that can go as deep as 6 feet.
Comfrey produces a lot of biomass. The amount of dark green leaves produced by one comfrey plant in a single year is noteworthy. It’s quite remarkable.
The long tap root and the productive growth of the comfrey plant make it useful for a few different applications. Because it has such an extensive root system and in particular a long tap root, comfrey can mine nutrients in deep soil horizons where other plants typically do not reach. These nutrients are deposited into its leaves which are produced in mass each year. This ability to cycle nutrients from deep in the soil upward, makes comfrey and excellent companion plant in orchards and on garden edges. The leaves make a great mulch amendment as well as a great treat for chickens.
I’ve read about folks making compost tea concoctions with comfrey leaves. Typically, it goes like this: Comfrey leaves are placed in a bucket of water and allowed to rot for a few days to weeks. Each day the concoction is stirred. Eventually you end up with a smelly, dark liquid solution that is commonly called compost tea. I have not tried this, but I am a bit skeptical and here is why - Whenever something rots and smells bad, it means it went anaerobic (no oxygen). Anaerobic decomposition is not what gardeners want because the microbes that live and thrive in anaerobic environments are detrimental to garden plants and can be harmful to humans. The earthy, sweet smell that is associated with a healthy soil comes from an aerobic environment.
I’m on the Comfrey train. I ended up getting some more plants and divided them into smaller pots. My plan is to plant one beside each fruit tree in the orchard.
Brassicas grow well in the spring
Since college, I’ve almost exclusively grown brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower) in the fall. There are a few exceptions like kale, but for the rest, I’ve always believed the fall growing season was the best. Why might you ask? Well, my first garden ever was a fall garden and I’ve never grown a better head of broccoli than the one I grew in the fall behind my house in Auburn. So, my bias started there. Then, when Morgan and I were growing for market, the spring crop of broccoli and cabbage was always very buggy. Also, it felt rushed. We were always in a race against the heat. Brassicas like cooler weather and in Alabama the summer heat hits you fast. It will go from the 70s in the afternoon to lower 90s overnight. Lastly, the spring garden always wants for space. So, once I started keeping a home garden exclusively and was only growing for our family, I decided that brassicas weren’t meant for the spring in Alabama.
But this year, we decided to grow some broccoli and cabbage in the spring, along with our favorite kale variety. And they did great. They weren’t buggy and they were producing heads nicely. We did have a nice spring with moderate temperatures. We also live in North Alabama, zone 7b, or on some maps, on the northern edge of zone 8. We planted our seedling transplants in early March. By early May, we had crowns forming. The plants weren’t buggy, didn’t look stressed, and were performing beautifully, to my surprise.
This is the first time in a while I have grown broccoli and cabbage in the spring. I’m still not convinced it’s better than fall growing. But I am more inclined to keep growing a spring crop now. The biggest problem with a fall crop of brassicas like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts is the declining sunlight. As the season progresses, the sunlight hours diminish, and this is the opposite of what these budding plants need. So perhaps it’s more of a toss-up than I’d like to admit. The verdict is still out for me.
Rats can be serious garden pests
We didn’t get to eat much of our broccoli. We didn’t eat any of our cabbage. Morgan and I left the country for 5 days and returned to a sad sight. The crowns of our broccoli had all been eaten. Each cabbage head had bites taken out of them and a few were completely gone. The rest of the plant - the leaves and stems - were practically untouched.
I’ve written previously about the problems we were having with rats, and I’ve talked about it with Morgan on the podcast. I don’t believe I have written explicitly about the damage the rats did in the garden. I didn’t know rats were pests that gardeners needed to consider.
This isn’t the first time sa beautiful crop has been eaten by a varmint before we can get our hands on it. Honestly, it’s more common than I’d like to admit. It is maddening. And depressing. But, so far, the seasons continue to change. And with the changing seasons comes the renewing of my rebellious and child-like hope for a utopic garden.
Plant Oak seedlings in the fall
I started some acorns in tree tubes last fall/winter. I had them inside my house under lights until spring rolled around. They sprouted in late winter and once the threat of frost had passed (early April) I planted them outside on the farm property. I left a few behind because I did not have tree tubes that would protect them from grazing deer and rabbits. These tree seedlings stayed in their tubes and have stayed outside at our house.
It has been four months now and what is clear is that seedling growth stalls at about 4 inches after putting on 3-4 leaves - regardless of whether it has been planted outside. The unplanted acorn seedlings still in tubes at our house look good and will be ready for planting this fall. The seedlings that were planted out in early spring also look good. Some are better than others. Japanese beetles ravaged a couple, but they bounced back nicely. However, I think moving forward I will wait to plant tree seedlings until the fall. The reason is they are more easily watched and protected. If they aren’t going to grow or benefit from being planted out earlier, then you might as well wait.
Something to consider. If you are interested in growing trees from seed, then you should know about the USDA’s The Woody Plant Seed Manual. It is an excellent resource! It is quite large. One trick I use when I need quick info is to ask ChatGPT to give me advice based on the information in the manual. It’s nice to have that option when time doesn’t allow me to sit down and “study” the material.
