How To Improve Your Soil Quality Spotlighting Comfrey
Healthy soil is the foundation of productive, sustainable gardening and agriculture. Managing for soil health allows producers and gardeners to work with the land – not against – to reduce erosion, maximize water infiltration, improve nutrient cycling, save money on inputs, (like fertilizer), and ultimately improve the resiliency of their working land or garden.
This sounds great, but how can gardeners and growers achieve this and still be efficient? What are some easy ways new gardeners and growers can achieve healthy soil and maximize their efforts? As per Farmers.gov, There are 4 Principles to improving soil health:
Minimize Disturbance and avoid compaction- a practical example is to have designated raised beds/planting areas with pathways that will allow you to access your plants without stepping into the beds or around the plants unnecessarily. Employing container gardening is another great way to achieve this and it also allows you to grow in places where there may not be green space available for planting like an apartment or an HOA.
Maximize Soil Cover- by covering the soil with organic mulch or a cover crop you are helping to protect the important microorganisms in the soil vital to plant growth as well as helping to keep the soil hydrated by preventing evaporation from the surface of the soil. Another benefit is that you will prevent unwanted weeds from popping up if the space is already taken by a cover crop.
Maximize Biodiversity- provides habitat for pollinators and beneficial organisms living in your soil
Maximize Presence of Living Roots- Living roots reduce soil erosion and provide food for organisms like earthworms and microbes that cycle the nutrients you plants need.
From my experience, a great, easy to grow plant that provides soil cover, is loved by pollinators, and has deep roots is Comfrey. Comfrey provides what is known as “staked functions”, meaning that this one plant provides many benefits:
Comfrey is a perennial plant, meaning it comes back year after year. No need for repeat planting!
Comfrey is very beneficial, offering nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for growing plants. No need for using petroleum based fertilizers!
Garden comfrey has high nutrient content and can be cut several times in a season. Comfrey's leaves are full of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - all nutrients needed by growing plants.Comfrey can be used all gardening and planting season!
Its leaves can be used as mulch around your plants by simply “chopping and dropping” the leaves in place. No need to be purchasing and lugging bags or wheelbarrows full of wood mulch around to use on your plants!
It produces pretty purple flowers that pollinators like bees love! If it's good for the bees, it's good for me!