Two years ago we wanted to quit having to mow between our blueberry bushes. We laid down landscape cloth, covered it with sawdust, and our mowing days were behind us. That year we watched the bees pollinate the blossoms and the berries grew like never before. We had a huge berry crop but couldn’t eat a single berry because as they ripened, a family of robins spotted them first…each bush was clearly visible from a bird’s eye view and as the berries ripened, the birds easily picked them off before we could. We laid fake snakes on the ground. We hung shiny wind socks to distract them. We thought about netting them, but it would have been difficult to pick them. So we let the birds have them.
Last year we tried a different strategy. We let the comfrey that we had been treating as weeds, grow up next to the bushes. We didn’t have any bird problems. So this year we’re doing the same thing. The comfrey provides blossoms to attract the bees which pollinate both the blueberries and the comfrey and we are assured of having berries without birds.
Bumblebee pollinating Comfrey blossoms. The bees work both the comfrey and the blueberry bushes that the comfrey hides from the birds.
Bumblebee on Blueberry blossom
The comfrey is still blooming!! It’s been over two months since the first picture was taken. The blueberries are now ripe and ready to pick. Thanks to the comfrey for hiding the blueberries from the birds, we can now pick them.
The bumblebees are still pollinating the comfrey even though it’s been over two months.
These blueberries were picked today. This is probably our best harvest yet. We’ve been getting this much every couple of days.
It’s been a successful experiment. The comfrey might compete somewhat with the blueberries for water and space…but what matters most is the successful harvest before the birds get them.
As a win-win, comfrey is known for it’s healing qualities also. For growing and using comfrey see this article by The Mother Earth News. And here’s a another person’s story of how to make a poultice and apply it. I just came across yet another site about the great qualities of comfrey.
Comfrey leaves will really heat up your compost pile and supposedly make great albeit stinky organic fertilizer
Lately I’ve taken to burying the leafy stems in the soil (trench composting) with crab shell, coffee grounds and kitchen scraps to enhance the soil…although now I’m wondering if that’s a such good idea. Do I have to worry about a bunch of comfrey ‘upstarts?’ My ‘comfrey corner’ might become comfrey acres 🙂
The leaves should be ok, just don’t let and of the roots out; a small piece can propagate in no time. Lay the leaves out as a mulch and as they break down they will release all the nutrients they have gathered from their deep root system. For comfrey tea just collect the leaves and put them in an old onion sack and suspend in a water butt; after about two weeks you will have a rich tea to feed your fruiting plants; my tomatoes and peppers used to love it. Be warned, it can smell a bit 🙂
We just put in several blueberry bushes at the end of this summer, and I’m thrilled to find this post. Thanks for sharing your experience!