Where to plant comfrey?

I'm thinning out my magazine cuttings at the moment that I have accumulated over the last 30 years (there's only so many similar articles on carrot cultivation one needs!) and I came across a snippet of information that made me wonder. In the Organic Gardening magazine (now unfortunately defunct) of March 2004, Gaby Bartai Bevan states about comfrey :

If you are starting a new comfrey bed, don't put it  anywhere near your vegetable patch - comfrey makes a splendid windbreak, but it also hoovers up all the nutrients for yards.

I'm not sure about the windbreak potential of comfrey myself, but am wondering about the soil sucking capabilities she mentions. I was thinking about planting comfrey up wind of my new Natural farming areas, to be handy for mulching and to act as a weed barrier against creeping grasses. My soil is rather shallow and poor, so I'm expecting to feed the comfrey anyhow (Probably with urine a bit), but has anyone else noticed it competing with adjacent plants in an adverse way? I'd rather have it close by where I need it and as I say, it would provide other functions there. I've not seen this mentioned any where else, but in a poor shallow soil I think I might have problems sooner than others.....

I just ordered and planted out a bunch of the "Bocking-14" cultivar of Comfrey (does not make seed). This is the 3rd home that I have lived in that I will be using it. Hopefully, this is my forever home now.

Link...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071ZX7YQS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anyways, I have used it in quite a few different conditions. Around trees and in patches around flower beds mostly. Bumble bees go nuts for the flowers too.

Yesterday I basically placed them along the edge of about 35' worth of my new blackberry/raspberry raised beds. I fully plan to remove them over the next few months as I plant out over 20 fruit trees. They will just be getting a jump start on the season in those beds that have very warm soil, fertilizer, and are within reach of the water hose.

They will be going around my fruit trees over the next few months to knock back the grass and keep my father-in-law from killing all of my trees with his weed eater. That dude pulverizes the grass into dirt everywhere he goes so nuts with that weed eater.  I keep having to rework things he damages with that thing. I don't want to have to start over again with fruit trees.

The Comfrey will also assist in keeping the chickens from flattening the mound of soil away from my new trees (they will literally dig up a tree that way). Also, shading that soil is INCREADIBLY important. When temps get above 70F... the amount of water a plant needs goes up drastically. I will be adding deep grass clippings as well. The grass clippings are the secret sauce for sure.

I am simply using the space in the raised beds to get them up and going. The other half of the new beds have been planted with "Mara de Bois" and "Charlotte" strawberries. By the end of the year, I expect to have a million strawberry crowns in the space.

Comfrey itself is a very pretty plant in my opinion. Not a wind break at all to me. Just great ground cover that mines nutrients and attracts bees for a good while every year. Yes the plants can get pretty large too when placed in a spot where they are happy. Almost looks like a dark green Hosta mound.

Having an ornamental/insect beneficial on-hand that also does duty as weed suppressant/medicine/nutrient accumulator/ground cooling agent/and chicken/father-in-law/weed eater repellant... is a "No Brainer" for me. I will just work some small flowers into that raised bed later in the season. Probably my "Dwarf Zinnia" since sooooooo many insects love them and they are bullet proof.

~ Marty

I grow it as a source of nutrition for animals and other plants.
I wouldn't want them in a vegetable bed with other plants, but I use it along borders.
I am considering planting entire beds of it, to use as fertilizer.
It doesn't have better NPK numbers than other green manure but it's said to promote growth better than others and for me, it thrives without care.