Be Nice to Nettles Week
Popping into the new Grow for Life garden on my way back from school to scope out the best site for a new dahlia patch, I got myself stung in the nettle patch at the gateway. It was my own fault - dressed for a team talk to students prior to their first A Level exam rather than gardening. Of course, this is one week when we should be celebrating nettles and can legitimately pretend that any nettle patch in allotment or garden is by design rather than default.
It’s Be Nice to Nettles Week, a “vibrant annual event that shines a spotlight on the humble nettle plant” and encourages us “ to appreciate the ecological and health benefits of nettles”. May is all about wildness rather than cultivation with No Mow May as well as this celebration of nettles, so I am leaning into it. Keep a patch near your compost where you can brew some Nettle manure over the growing season. It's a great nitrogen-rich feed for promoting lush green growth but you might want to brew it in a lidded bucket. It takes six weeks and absolutely stinks. As well as being vital in attracting beneficial insects to any plot nettles are also good eaten in a Nettle Soup or drunk as a tea. To make nettle tea, soak 4-6 teaspoons of dried nettle leaves or root in about 6 ounces of water. Drink 2 to 3 cups of tea a day for relief from urinary tract infections, skin irritations, blood coagulation and circulation. Love the soup but frankly I only tolerate the tea because it's good for me. Nettle beer is altogether more palatable.
Nettle Beer
2lb nettle tops (you need young ones)
8 pints Water
1lb demerara Sugar
2 Lemons and an orange
1 oz Cream of Tartar
small ginger root, chopped
½oz Brewers Yeast
Shake the bugs off the nettles. Wash and drain.
Finely peel the lemons (you only need the outer waxy layer) and squeeze out the juice. Juice the orange.
Place nettles and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it boil for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a large container with the lemon rind, juices and cream of tartar. Give it a really good stir.
Allow to cool to about 21°C (70°F). Remove a little of the liquid and mix with the yeast, then stir this into the liquid.
Cover the container with muslin but make sure the cloth cannot come into contact with the liquid. Secure with string.
Leave in a warm place 21°C (70°F) for 3 days.
Strain the liquid into glass bottles and cork.
Secure the corks with wire, but leave room for possible expansion.
Store in a cool dark place to condition for about a week.
If the corks begin to rise, release the wire slightly and re-secure.
Drink cold.
And I've even heard of people making string from nettles............from sting to string!
Well that's six uses for nettles. Any other ideas?