![]() Strain fourteen was identified as being the most nutrient rich non-seeding strain and so ‘Bocking 14’ began its journey into gardens far and wide across the world.Īs a consequence of his research into comfrey and organic gardening, Hills founded HDRA (Henry Doubleday Research Organisation). The red dot is where Hills lived.Īt this site, Hills trialed 21 Comfrey “strains” gathered from other growers around the country and named each one after the village Bocking followed by a number. Today, it is home to the housing development named Doubleday Gardens in memory of Henry Doubleday. The area highlighted in red was the site of the Bocking trails. Lawrence Hills lived at 20 Convent Lane just around the corner of the trail site. The original trial site is on the plot of land now occupied by the Doubleday Gardens housing development. ![]() In the 1950’s Hills developed a Comfrey research program in the village of Bocking, near Braintree in the UK. Years later, and after two world wars, Lawrence D Hills (1911–1991) would continue Henry Doubleday’s Comfrey crusade. The plant most commonly referred to and used in gardens is Russian Comfrey – Symphytum x uplandicum, a naturally occurring hybrid of two wild species: Common Comfrey – Symphytum officinale and Prickly Comfrey – Symphytum asperum.Ī few centuries back the hybrid Symphytum x uplandicum came to the attention of an original ecotrepreneur Henry Doubleday (1810 – 1902) and he widely promoted the plant as a food and forage crop. is native to Europe and Asia and there are 40 recorded species of Comfrey throughout that region. Introduction to ComfreyĪ member of the Borage family, Comfrey – Symphytum spp. Comfrey ‘Bocking 14’ in the under story of a Walnut – Juglans regia in our Forest Garden. So we’ll start with a condensed story of comfrey and why I think you should certainly believe the hype. ![]() When writing this article I could not resist to include some of the stories of this incredible plant and of the people that have been enchanted by its prowess. ![]() There’s a plethora of info out there about comfrey but not much detail regarding establishing and managing a comfrey patch so I thought I would write an article to share my experience on this and how we grow comfrey as part of our fertility strategy in the market garden. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |