Perennial weeds are normally anathema to gardeners and stinging nettles perhaps more than most. The nettle is a hardy plant which exhibits a vigorous and invasive spread if left untended. Its strong rooting system is difficult and time-consuming to dislodge. Its painful sting means it has few friends except as a food source for caterpillars of some butterfly species.
The Nettle As A Weed
The nettle sting is created by the leaf's needle-like hairs that inject the stinging substance. The effect of the sting can be overcome by rubbing the affected area with a leaf of the broad-leafed dock, rumex obtusifolius. The sap from the leaf is the remedy so that crushing the dock leaf is effective.
Young fresh nettles and dried nettles do retain their sting for a time even when dead, so that pulping them is required if not boiling. The sting is destroyed by boiling nettles in water.
Removing unwanted nettles from a garden can be achieved through:
- Use of a systemic weedkiller to kill the rooting system underground
- Nettles are usually well-established amongst other plants so that a weedklller is not suitable, so a second option is digging the nettle roots out. Being yellow, the roots can easily be spotted when digging.
- Other than the above, repeated weeding by hand will be necessary.
Though it will takes some time, perseverance will eventually pay off. To prevent nettle invasion from a neighbouring garden, digging a trench and creating a polythene barrier to a depth of twelve inches is very effective. The roots of a nettle often run deep, but usually die at about 10 inches below the surface.
Uses of the Nettle Leaf
Despite it being the stinging part of the nettle, the nettle leaf is rich in vitamins and minerals. Nettles have been used traditionally as herbal remedies. Amongst many illnesses that the nettle has been used to treat, including rheumatism and gout, nettles are used to improve the digestive system, being especially good for the liver. With care, nettle leaves can be used as:
- vegetables
- insect spray
- fertiliser and compost activator
- nettle tea
- nettle wine
Cooked Nettles
As a vegetable rich in nutrients, as well as being a diuretic, nettles have a restorative effect on many bodily functions. They make a good tonic, whether made into soup or cooked as a vegetable similar to spinach. By using fresh, young nettle leaves, they can be steamed with young shoots, then by adding pepper and butter nettles make an appetising vegetable dish.
Nettles to Deter Insects
Made into an insect spray, nettles are a fine insect deterrent when applied to other plant leaves and are especially effective against aphids. A litre of water should be added to each 100g of chopped fresh nettle leaves and then the leaves weighted to keep them submerged. After leaving for a day or two, the liquid can be sieved off, diluted further at about a 1:5 solution and then used as a spray.
Nettles as a Fertiliser
Fresh nettles can be added to water, approximately nine pints of water to a pound of nettles, then covered and sealed. Stirred occasionally over a four-week period until the leaves have rotted down, the liquid can then be sieved off and further diluted at about a 1:10 solution to make a very good fertiliser, or it can be added to compost to accelerate the composting process.
Nettle Tea
Nettle tea makes an excellent tonic and as with other uses of nettles there is plenty of room to experiment to vary the final result. Young, fresh nettle leaves are best for this purpose and can be boiled to make tea as normal. It is best to use only nettles picked in the first half of the year as they do change their constituency as the year progresses and after mid-May they sometimes produce a strong laxative effect!
A popular way to make nettle tea is also to add young, fresh chickweed that has been picked in its prime. Nettle tea can be applied to both human hair and pet fur. Left to dry, it serves as a very good conditioner and removes detritus. It may darken fur initially but this effect wears off to leave a well-conditioned and healthy appearance.
Nettle Wine
Nettles can be fermented and made into wine. For this purpose, the uppermost leaves of the nettle are sometimes preferred as they are often found to lead to a sweeter taste. The leaves should be washed and drained. After adding ginger and the peel of one lemon for each litre of nettles, the mixture should then be simmered in water for aorund an hour.
The sieved liquid should then be thoroughly stirred until a kilo of sugar has been dissolved into the mixture. Adding more water to dilute then letting the liquid cool before adding some yeast, the mixture can then be fermented and eventually the clear liquid creates the wine. Nettle wine enthusiasts often experiment with variations of the basic process to vary the wine taste and texture.
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