Kevin Stanton

Hugo Morvan wrote:That's how big my comfrys get after 3 years of being left alone. Two years if i give them some half bucket of manure when i plant them out. I got a lot and use it as a border to keep grass from invading and i use 3 year old roots to make balms with together with rosemary, eucalyptus, mint, arnika, camomille, sage, ginger . It's a banger. Lately my friend hurt his wrist after overdoing rendering. We thought we'd lost him, he warned last time he injured himself like this it took 3 weeks of rest. We'd travelled a days drive to do a week of work, i gave him the balm, he put megadoses of it on and was back at it the day after. Finished the job. It's a miracle cure.
Best thing ever if you dig them up,i only use the big root to supply family and friends and more and more acquaintances they will leave roots in the soil and pop back up in a ring. 5 easily. Ready to transplant in autumn. I dropped some pieces of root on the path and they peek through the grass. Avoid self seeding ones and smaller runner ones and you're laughing the rest of your life.
Salespitch over.

I've basically planted it in manure due to glacial tillage turning to a pasture, and never changing, except for wood chip spreading.

I live in MN, and the picture was taken today. Should my Cumfrey look this happy where it's at?
It's on a pasture with a creek running next to it with super-black dirt, and the rhubarb near it isn't doing nearly this well.

The posts behind it are bird house posts that are maybe 8 feet tall.

The leaning post is probably only being held up by cumfrey roots.

Does anyone know what bocking this is?

Jay Angler wrote:

Nancy Reading wrote: I have a mattock which is a far better tool for that job.

Kevin, what are you doing with the hole that's left?

I'm leaving the hole behind, and filling it in with dirt left behind.

To break the roots, I lift and pull.

Anne Miller wrote:How does your garden grow?

Root Exudates

I lived with a quaker UMN soil scientist (Bruce Bacon) who had others living with him (like runaway Amish/hatteries) also, and he had plants like grass, comfrey, and trees growing right along with the lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers. so you might need to look into growing with this method to keep the soil always covered. some Ranchers do this also.

Sonja Draven wrote:Sharing some garden pics as promised. Covered and then uncovered today. There should be a fair bit of rain still between now and planting.

If you want to get rid of the grass, have you considered doing a chicken run to dump a lot of nitrogen on the soil?

Judith Browning wrote:
I'm confused as to whether you are trying to dig rocks, tree roots or rhubarb roots as you mention in your last post? maybe all of them?
This is in the forest?

splitting rhubarb in an establishing food forest that some chop and drop trees are growing next to, on peatland (not quite a bog due to filling in after the last ice age).

George Ingles wrote:If you are just trying to eliminate these roots - not harvest, and the tool needs to be narrow and durable, I have a suggestion.

I'm collecting rhubarb roots for replanting to eventually have a 4ish acre rhubarb farm to pay me when I retire.

Jim Garlits wrote:Everything is a trade-off, and you can wind up with a shed full of tools you only use once or twice a year instead of five or six that you use all the time.
Jim

What if you use it for a few days every year?

Start with a chicken run in the garden bed, with enough chickens to strip all the grass from the area.

I'm bending a digging/spading fork then, and a broad fork is too big to use in a forest when digging things like rhubarb roots

Hugo Morvan wrote:For digging up roots i use an all metal heavy duty spade with a tiny 4 inch blade and step-on. I remove the dirt and then identify if i can cut the root with a battery powered, jig-saw with extra long blade or use the battery powered scrubsaw with an f-ed up blade. Depending on the rootsize. But wherever i can i just let roots die down in the soil as they form deep mulch and pathways for new trees to colonize quickly.

Right tool, right job. I want to take as much of the roots as possible when I dig the plants up.

I'm a powerlifter (i.e. 500 LBS deadlift), and have noticed that I need to restraighten the tines every few digs, and have been wondering which one you would recommend replacing it with. I know Ames has lifetime warranties, but have noticed that they're not really meant for someone incredibly strong. What have you found to be the best one for going at a reasonable pace without needing to restraighten the tines (it's for digging up plant roots).