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Spare a Sunny spot for Nettles
This abundant and widely distributed herb is better known as a common weed with a great capacity to sting. It can be found in grassy places, under hedges and on waste ground, and is an indicator of a fertile soil. Should we clear our gardens of this much-maligned weed?
Nettles are the commonest of all edible plants with a high nutritional and medicinal value. Since early Christian times nettle broth was a very popular dish. Many poor people relied on the nettle as a vegetable until the early C20. In Scotland, nettles were grown under glass as kale and used in haggis and porridge. In the USSR Gulags, nettles were secretly grown as an only source of vitamin C. Nettles contain iron, formic acid, ammonia, silicic acid and histamine. All these aid in the relief of rheumatism and sciatica. They can improve blood circulation and increase red blood cell count, and also lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Cut stinging nettles using gloves and scissors selecting only tops with young leaves. After June the leaves will be too coarse to eat and act as a laxative.
Nettle Soup
Peel and chop a large onion, garlic and 2 potatoes. Fry them for about 3 minutes in some olive oil. Add a bunch of chopped nettle tops and enough stock to cover. Boil until potatoes are soft. Liquidize and season to taste. Serve with a splash of cream.
Nettles have important wildlife value.
Ladybirds love nettles. In spring, adult ladybirds will choose a sunny patch of nettles to lay their eggs in. The nettle aphids are the favourite food of the ladybirds' larvae. Gardeners benefit from the ladybirds moving onto the Broad beans and later the Runner beans to clear them of aphids free of charge! Similarly, various species of butterfly like the Small Tortoiseshell and the Comma lay their eggs on nettle leaves. Their caterpillars will strip whole nettle patches of their leaves. More importantly, the survival of the Peacock butterfly is entirely dependent on stinging nettles, as its offspring will only feed on nettle aphids.
Nettles have horticultural benefits too.
When there seem to be rather too many nettles they can be harvested. Chopped nettles are excellent in the compost mixed with other materials, as they will speed up the rotting process. They can also be used to make a liquid fertiliser rich in nitrogen, the ideal food for tomatoes.
Collect 1 kg nettles and add to 10 litres of water. Leave for 3 weeks. It will start to stink! To use, dilute 1 part of nettle 'tea' to 10 parts of water. Use as liquid feed on nitrogen loving plants. Put left-over nettle sludge on the compost heap.Four different species of nettle are found in the UK:
Urtica dioica and Urtica urens or large and small stinging nettle, Lamium purpureum or red dead-nettle and Lamium album or white dead-nettle.
For information on the meetings of the West London Organic & Wildlife Gardening Association Contact Dominique Van Dooren
