How to Mulch With Comfrey

A living mulch serves multiple purposes in the home garden. When planted over an empty bed, the mulch prevents weeds from invading and replenishes necessary soil nutrients when you finally till it into the soil. Using a living mulch in a planted bed suppresses any weed growth between the desired plants while providing a carpet of green over empty garden soil. Nutrient-rich comfrey leaves improve garden soil as they decompose, making them a suitable choice for dormant bed mulching. The plants are large, so they only make a suitable mulch in planted beds when grown around trees and other large plants.

How, spade or power tiller

Instructions

- 1
  Clear the bed of unwanted debris. Till under old, dead plant material and pull any weeds that have gone to seed, using a hoe, spade or power tiller.
- 2
  Set comfrey transplants in the garden bed. Plant each seedling so the crown, where the leaf stems emerge from the lower root system, sits 2 inches beneath the soil surface.
- 3
  Plant the comfrey transplants 30 inches apart. The leaves between plants overlap at this spacing once the plants mature, resulting in an even mulch covering. Space rows 30 inches apart in a checkerboard pattern so there are no spaces between plants once they reach their full size.
- 4
  Water comfrey once weekly and provide approximately 1 inch of water. Keep the top 6 inches of soil moist but not soggy for best growth. The plants may not require outside irrigation during cool, damp weather.
- 5
  Till the comfrey into the soil once the plants reach maturity and begin flowering but before they begin to set seeds. Alternatively, pull the plants and add them to the compost pile.

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