Who among us hasn’t cursed when an encounter with a nettle patch has resulted in a sharp, stinging rebuke from the plant as it sinks its hairs into a tender shin or palm. Many gardeners view this prolific plant as a pest, to be got rid of while wearing as much protective armour as possible, but could we be missing out on one of the great, green gardening multitaskers?
It’s true that the humble stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, fulfils the annoying weed remit. Not especially pretty, this herbaceous perennial spreads easily and prolifically via underground rhizomes and if you don’t catch it young or keep on top of it, it can swiftly smother other plants. Not just that but left unchecked it can reach a towering 2m tall making it harder to get rid of it without risking a stinging somewhere. Its smaller cousin, Urtica urens, is an annual and so if you can catch it before it sets seed, it can be easier to keep under control.
You may also like
- The 10 weeds you need to worry about in your garden - and the 10 you can happily leave be
- Growild Nursery: the nursery that specialises in 'fancy' forms of weeds
Yet increasingly experts are suggesting we welcome this invasive beast into our plots to make the most of a host of nutritional goodies that benefit us, wildlife and our soil.
An under-appreciated superfood?
Gaz Oakley is a chef and smallholder in Monmouthshire who has long championed the virtues of foraged ingredients. He has specifically given over a bank in his plot to allow nettles to grow so he can reap the benefits.
“Nettles have a long history in feeding us, healing us and clothing us. When we had cotton or flax shortages, nettles were there.” Oakley also points to its nutritional benefits. “It’s such a high iron food source. Before kale and spinach were popular, we were picking nettles and the seeds are full of protein.”
Indeed, nettles have twice as much iron as spinach and seven times as much vitamin C as oranges, plus vitamins A and K, plus calcium. They can be processed into a wide array of foods, including spreads, salads, teas, tinctures and more.
They can also be turned into food – for your food! Nettle tea (not to be confused with the ‘drinking’ nettle tea; a tisane made from dried nettles or an infusion from the seeds) like comfrey tea can be made simply by soaking nettles in a container and siphoning off the liquid.
Soak a kilo of fresh nettles for every 10 litres of water for up to 3 weeks (be warned, it will smell!) When ready, take out the solids and put them on the compost heap. Dilute the remaining liquid 1 part tea to 10 parts water and use as your regular feeding regiment for vegetables and leafy plants. You can use a weaker version (double the amount of water) to give your seedlings and young plants a boost.
If you don’t want a big container of smelly nettle tea lurking about, Gaz has developed his own nettle syrup or cheong (“It’s a Korean natural farming technique and very potent”) which is equal parts nettles and sugar and then diluted 10ml syrup to 10L of water. Follow his instructions on making your own nettle syrup (as well as spreads, teas and tinctures) in his video below.
Nettles for nature
When you’re not gobbling up your super spinach substitute, it would be wise to leave some nettles in place to help boost the biodiversity of your plot.
According to Shathuki Perera, the Natural History Museum’s former Urban Biodiversity Officer, nettles “support a whole host of different pollinators and even some birds. As the insects that use them are quite delicate, they don’t set off the mechanism of the hairs, which means that they’re able to forage and lay their eggs without being stung.”
Insects include several butterfly species including Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Commas who lay their eggs on the leaves and whose larvae feed on them once hatched.
It’s not all good news. Garden Organic mentions that nettles can also host carrot fly and the way to deal with it has been to remove nettles from hedgerows. But taking the usual precautions (sowing high up, avoiding too much thinning) and keeping nettle patches clear of carrot beds should help.
You may also like
- These plants will support butterfly and moth caterpillars to help your wildlife garden thrive
- Moths are overlooked but they play an important role in our ecosystems
“Grow them as far away from your beds if you can help it,” Gaz suggests. “I have a nettle or two popping up in my beds but I just catch them young. Even though I love nettles, I will pick them out of my beds if they’re growing in the wrong place because they do take over fast.”
Needled by a nettle
Aside from its myriad nutritional benefits, researchers are keen to understand just how much the common nettle can help alleviate the symptoms of disease. There is evidence of nettles being used in natural medicine as far back as the Ancient Greeks and Romans with Pliny the Elder writing that Roman soldiers used them to stimulate circulation – a process called urtication.
Certainly, the common nettle’s high iron content makes it a useful food to help combat anaemia but scientists are also looking into how its sting could perhaps help ease the pain of osteoarthritis.
Scientists at the University of Plymouth conducted a trial on 27 volunteers with osteoarthritis at the base of their thumb, using both nettles and a ‘placebo’ leaf (one that didn’t have the sting). Those involved ‘stung’ themselves with the leaves over a period of a week to see if their pain levels improved.
Participants reported having significantly lower pain and better mobility during the 1-week trial. The researchers themselves acknowledge that this trial is too small and short-lived to create robust findings that nettles could have use in alleviating arthritis pain, but journals including the BMJ and Nature concluded that this is an avenue worth pursuing.
Should you find yourself in the very unusual situation of not having any of your own common nettle to cultivate and harvest (it is found on 99% of the UK’s available land), you can buy and grow it from seed. If you have a ready supply, you can collect the seeds in autumn and sow them in a convenient spot. Simply sow on the soil surface in autumn or spring and they should germinate after a couple of weeks. Make sure to choose quite nutritious soil. Note nettles that have self-seeded and are growing freely on your plot are an indicator that your soil is already high in nitrogen so you can go easy on the feed there.
