horseradish v comfrey for compost

emiff6

Someone must have the answer!

I know comfrey is good for the compost heap 'cos its long taproot draws up lots of minerals from deep in the soil. Horseradish also has a long taproot, so would its leaves also be good to compost?

Don't have any comfrey growing wild round here, but the verges and field edges are full of horseradish, so I'd like to use it if I can.

cjb02

I would suggest a big no. horseradish spreads very quickly from seed and I believe root as well and turns in to a rampant weed.

So if you chop up horseradish roots and put it in your compost you might find a compost bin full of horseradish plants

Lotus-eater

Grow your own comfrey, it's the best way and very easy, any old bit of unused land, especially if it's next to compost heaps.
Comfrey you can get 5 or 6 or more cuts a year from, well worth growing in a food producing area.

Go for the bocking 14 type btw, doesn't spread via seed.

emiff6

cjb02 wrote: »

I would suggest a big no. horseradish spreads very quickly from seed and I believe root as well and turns in to a rampant weed.

So if you chop up horseradish roots and put it in your compost you might find a compost bin full of horseradish plants

I wasn't intending to do anything as energetic as digging up roots. Just cut some of those lush leaves to shred into the compost. I'm quite aware how rampant it is!

I'd love to GMO comfrey, Lotus-eater, but I can't see anywhere I can shoehorn a plant in at present. My garden is small and growing something purely for compost is a bit of a waste of space. Yes, I know it's brilliant for bruises/sprains etc but you can only turn so much into ointment.

Maybe I could plant some among the horseradish on the verges - with a bit of luck no-one else might recognise it and dig it up again.

Sally_A

I've got a couple of comfrey plants that grow wild in the garden...not bocking 14 or anything fancy. Anyhow...thought I'd pick off the leaves and mash them into a wide necked jar....found a large coffee jar, rammed them in as tightly as I could, filled with warm water, and let ferment for 3 -4 weeks - the stench is like concentrated rotting cabbages, but poured some onto a lagging behind chilli plant.....the fruits are now bigger and more plentiful than I could have hoped for....coincidence?..maybe. but I've now racked off about 12 wine bottles full of the stuff (bottled on when about pale tea colour, am doing it as a fast x1 concentrate rather than a long x4 brew). Lots grow wild around here, I wouldn't dig up a plant from the hedges, but will collect the leaves if I think this is a good feed.

cjb02

emiff6 wrote: »

Maybe I could plant some among the horseradish on the verges - with a bit of luck no-one else might recognise it and dig it up again.

Awesome idea. thats called Gorilla gardening. go for it ;-)

TheGardenGnome

emiff6 wrote: »

I wasn't intending to do anything as energetic as digging up roots. Just cut some of those lush leaves to shred into the compost. I'm quite aware how rampant it is!

I'd love to GMO comfrey, Lotus-eater, but I can't see anywhere I can shoehorn a plant in at present. My garden is small and growing something purely for compost is a bit of a waste of space. Yes, I know it's brilliant for bruises/sprains etc but you can only turn so much into ointment.

Maybe I could plant some among the horseradish on the verges - with a bit of luck no-one else might recognise it and dig it up again.

If you want some comfrey leaves I'lll gladly give you a few if you're reasonably close to me in Leicester!

emiff6

Thanks, Gardengnome - a friend gave me some of her comfrey leaves and when she splits the plant I'm going to shove a bit of root in on the edge of the village footy pitch, but I'd still like to find out if it is worth composting horseradish leaves. Maybe I'll just try it and see how well they rot down and boost fertility.