Be Kinder to Nettles?

Unbelievably it's Be Kind to Nettles Week (14-25 May - note it's another example of time being stretched) and I don't think they mean the cultivated kind like the picture above taken in my garden yesterday, but the wild sort shown below from our neighbouring public land a few moments later.
I don't think my niece will be celebrating, in spite of efforts by major organisations like the Natural History Museum in London. She fell into a bed of nettles at the age of four whilst we were walking in the Cotswolds (oh the inconsolable screaming!) and has had an aversion to them ever since, poor thing. There also appears to be a campaign against them up at the allotment at the moment as several patches (including 1 on my plot) look like someone's put weedkiller on them. It's a shame really as they are such a versatile plant. So much so that this author has found 101 uses for them. I already knew about their attractivess to butterflies, the foul smelling concoction you can make to feed plants, cooking nettle soup and the use of their fibre for clothing, but there's also nettle cordial, tea and beer, plus insect repellent, dandruff treatments, omlette flavouring and a whole lot more! Instructions for using nettles as plant feed/pest control, nettle soup and hair conditioner can be found here. It seems they may have their use medicinally too, so perhaps we all should be looking at this much maligned plant a little differently from now on.

Update: Mark (The Green Fingered Photographer) asked what my cultivated nettle variety is. It's Hermann's Pride aka Yellow Archangel. I've found it to be a great plant to grow - as you'll see in my comments. However, when investigating suitable links for this update, I found that gardeners have been warned not to plant it as it's invasive. It's not proving to have these troublesome characteristics in my garden, perhaps it's not in its perfect spot. I thought I'd better pass on this warning though.

Comments

  1. Anonymous17 May 2008 at 08:06

    I mentioned this event in my Thursday entry. I'm happy to leave some nettles in one or two places on the plot. I'd be a bit put out if anyone put weedkiller on them.
    Have a good weekend, and happy plotting! xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Esther Montgomery17 May 2008 at 08:24

    If you stand back and look at a nettle impartially, it is an impressive plant.

    Apart from planting a small patch outside my front window, last year, I had a 'free standing' one.

    It grew alone, seperated from the other garden plants - so it could be seen properly.

    I looked after it a bit - 'pruned' it (so no-one walking by got stung) - and watered it occasionally.

    It had good shape, good colour. Even it's flower was acceptable.

    If nettles weren't so common, we'd appreciate them more.

    If they were rare, we'd be proud to 'own' one.

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  3. CanadianGardenJoy17 May 2008 at 12:51

    Every plant has its good and bad points .. well, almost every plant ? .. I love the "101 uses" so many amazing things you can do !
    I haven't run into stinging nettles .. literally .. but from what people say it must be a huge OUCH ! Your poor niece !
    Like the post VP !
    Joy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark17 May 2008 at 14:17

    I really like the top one, I have not seen them with white and green leaves, what is it called?

    Down at the wildlife garden next to my signal box I let a patch of nettles grow as they are really good for the butterflies that we have.I do have to watch them though as before you know it they are spreading everwhere.

    Cheers Mark

    ReplyDelete
  5. VP17 May 2008 at 14:40

    Before I answer everyone else, here's the answer to Mark's question I left over at his place:

    It's called Hermans Pride - makes a nice change from the usual White Nancy variety. It's a great little plant to edge a shady border. It gets a little leggy towards the end of the summer, but a good haircut brings it back like yesterday's photo. Insects love it too - so a good all round plant in my view and much tamer than its stinging cousin!

    Glad you have a patch near your signal box - though as you say, it does need to be kept in check a little. Luckily I can add any 'tamings' to my compost heaps.

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP17 May 2008 at 15:03

    Take note of my warning in my update piece re it being an invasive species. I haven't had this problem in my garden though - it stays in a nice clump and brightens up a very shady spot. Perhaps my dense planting around it has not allowed it to gain a foothold, or perhaps it's not quite in the right spot to take on the characteristics warned about it the article I linked to?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mark17 May 2008 at 15:06

    Hi VP,
    Thanks for the warning,the place I have in mind is in the green project that is taking place infont of my house, there is a blog about it http://lawleygreenspacegroup.blogspot.com

    Cheers Mark

    ReplyDelete
  8. Esther Montgomery17 May 2008 at 15:13

    You can also set invasives to battle it out.

    I've planted mint next to my front of house nettle patch.

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP17 May 2008 at 16:58

    Hi Esther - good idea. Creeping Jenny would be another option I think!

    Flighty - I'm put out too :(

    Joy - I was impressed by the 101 too. And my niece? Much more than ouch! She has an aversion to nettles to this day - she fell in the patch over 7 years ago!

    Mark - I suspect it's a no no for the area you have in mind. Thanks for the link - I've lurked there a couple of times before. It's a good project you've got there :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Suburbia17 May 2008 at 22:24

    I've always fancied trying nettle soup but would rather someone else made it for me!!
    I've done your tag by the way:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. david mcmahon17 May 2008 at 22:59

    Always be on your nettle, I mean mettle!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. archivesinfo18 May 2008 at 01:55

    great post! Thanks for all of the info. I've never met a nettle in person and have just heard about their medicinal properties as well as their troublesome prickles

    ReplyDelete
  13. Aunt Debbi/kurts mom18 May 2008 at 04:47

    The only nettle I am familiar with is the horrible stinging kind in our pastures here in North Texas. I will be a hard sell, and I am certainly not going to try to make soup out of it. OUCH.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Neva19 May 2008 at 04:21

    I have learned so much here! Nettles...who knew? not me! I don't have any but then things are different here! I spend all day weeding my flower beds and still have much work to do.....the disadvantage of having a large piece of property and trying to do it all yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  15. this is my patch19 May 2008 at 10:15

    First of all Michelle, I hope you enjoy the Chelsea coverage, I had to tape last nights as the in-laws were round! I really laughed when I saw this about nettles on Flighty's blog, there is a week for everything nowadays isn't there! I must go out a get a photo of my clump! x

    ReplyDelete
  16. VP20 May 2008 at 12:13

    Suburbia - great tag response :) I'm not sure about the soup though!

    David - you can be relied on to provide the pun juste! Thanks for the honourable mention on post of the day too :)

    Melissa - welcome! So glad you found this useful

    Aunt Debbi - that's exactly the kind they want you to be kind to, but as you say - OUCH!

    Neva - no matter how much you do in the garden, there's always more to do isn't there ;)

    ReplyDelete
  17. VP20 May 2008 at 12:13

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Viooltje21 May 2008 at 19:02

    I totally love the variegated one. It's wonderful. Since I could remember, I've always been kind to plants, nettles included, but nettles seem to have had a pick on me throughout my childhood ;-) Today it brings a smile to my face just spotting one in the neglected parts of my backyard. Even if I get stung while harvesting for the fertilizer concoctions. And Esther there is right, if they were not so bloody common, we'd be out in the nurseries looking for those rare, intriguing, wild nettles, so rich in homeopathic features.

    ReplyDelete
  19. VP22 May 2008 at 14:34

    Viooltje - welcome! I think it's another example of familiarity breeding contempt!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more