Loveage as an accumilator?

I've been planting Comfrey all over my property the past 5 summers.  I live at 7,500' and have dry summers in Colorado.  I must say the comfrey hasn't been too prolific, and in certain areas struggled even as I continue to water them.  Did I mention it's dry here in summer, and the sun can be punishing.  A few plants are still just a few leaves at most.

However, I planted a Lovage plant near my front door and it's gone absolutely crazy.  This area is direct punishing and uninterrupted sun until 3pm in the summer while the rest of the yard is pretty much all day, and being against the house may somehow preserve some water.  But I may have finally given up on comfrey and switched to Lovage.

I was first introduced to Lovage after visiting Jerome and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI), and maybe Jerome had discovered this himself.

Lovage appears in the spring weeks before Comfrey.  And I've already broken up my already sprouted plant near the front door into over 10 pieces (similar tubers like Comfrey) and planted them everywhere to see how they do.  Every piece continues to thrive after the past week, and some of the bigger pieces are almost a foot high with leaves still growing.  And my comfrey at best is barely showing the first centimeter of green tips.

Is there a reason Lovage isn't as popular as comfrey?  It's edible but I plan to use it as green manure. My soil I presume is already full of minerals considering a large part of it is ground up rock from the rocky mountains.  I have ton of brown compost but since nobody at my elevation has grass it's really hard to get the greens in my compost pile.

Lovage is one of the plants I really wanted to grow though it did not come up when I planted the seeds.

I wanted to grow it for its medicinal value and as a substitute for celery.

I am glad that it is flourishing for you.

I have not tried to grow comfrey as I don't feel it will grow where I live.  Like you, I have dry summers.  Maybe the comfrey you are growing does not get enough water?  Have you tried a heavy mulch?

I am curious as to what properties Loveage would have that would make it an accumulator?  Other than using it for green manure.

I love lovage as an herb, but man does it seem to have a hard time thriving around here in direct sun. My Oma used to keep a lovage plant in her garden in coastal California that would grow probably 7 feet tall every year. It is damned hard to sprout from seed, but it is at least perrenial.

Can't speak to its use as an accumulator, but it's phenomenal in soup.

Anne Miller wrote:Lovage is one of the plants I really wanted to grow though it did not come up when I planted the seeds.....

....Maybe the comfrey you are growing does not get enough water?  Have you tried a heavy mulch?....

....I am curious as to what properties Loveage would have that would make it an accumulator?  Other than using it for green manure....

I had trouble getting seeds to come up too.  You have to baby them a bit.  I've tried broadcasting out hundreds of seeds but they never take.  I ultimately babied them in an area I kept wet and constantly checked -- this was when it was warm outside already.  It took and it took hard.  It's 6 feet tall every summer and when I just dug up half the root it was massive.

I'd love to hear about the accumulator properties as well.

Nick Williams wrote:I love lovage as an herb, but man does it seem to have a hard time thriving around here in direct sun. My Oma used to keep a lovage plant in her garden in coastal California that would grow probably 7 feet tall every year. It is damned hard to sprout from seed, but it is at least perrenial.

Can't speak to its use as an accumulator, but it's phenomenal in soup.

Mine loves the direct sun, so long as it gets water when it starts to droop.  Mine grows 6 feet tall every year and it's only like 4 years old.  I've only recently heard about Marrikraut which is made from Lovage.  I stumbled upon the word a week ago.  I gotta learn how to use it in a more culinary fashion.  Every time I've tasted a leaf it was too bitter for a celery substitute.

I found several websites on Google talking about lovage having a deep taproot.

This one in particular says it can be up to 35" long:

https://gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/growing-lovage-uncommon-leafy-green-many-uses/


I have no idea how accurate the info on that site is or if there are any specific minerals/nutrients it would be especially helpful for accumulating, but the long taproot seems like a good start at least...

Do you have Bocking 14 Comfrey?… I believe it has a much deeper taproot than 4 and standard… but again, might not do well with such a dry summer unless planted on a swale or hugelkultur?..

John Warren wrote:... but the long taproot seems like a good start at least...

That was a great article.  Not quite the 10' taproot I've read about comfrey, if that's even true.  I'm guessing because of my soil comprised greatly of sand from the rocky mountains I may not need the minerals from down deep.

Chris Vee wrote:Do you have Bocking 14 Comfrey?… I believe it has a much deeper taproot than 4 and standard… but again, might not do well with such a dry summer unless planted on a swale or hugelkultur?..

Yes, I've exclusively used Bocking 14.  The areas where they are doing the worst aren't as mulched, so maybe I'll start there.  I look forward to seeing how my Lovage does in comparison to comfrey in those similar areas.