Nettles: Good for You and Your Plants

Upon being stung by a nettle plant, who was the first person who said, "I bet this would be good to eat"!

Seriously.

These plants are bad news in the spring to unsuspecting gardeners. Their tiny spines release an acid that burns when it comes in contact with your skin. That said, fresh nettle tops are also very nutritious to both you and your plants. 

Juicing nettles crushes the spines or dipping them in hot water  immediately deactivates them. Stir frying or steaming does the trick, too. You can eat them like cooked spinach. Or make tea out of them like you would with mint leaves.There are tons of recipes online.

Create nutrients for your garden -- soak nettles in a bucket for days and throw that "tea" on your plants while watering. Learn how to do that, here.

Yesterday after setting up pole bean fences at Red Hen Garden, Kevin walked away with a bucket of young nettle tops from the edge of the woods.  He juices them using an Omega juicer, dilutes the mixture with celery juice and then drinks it in shot glass sized allotments.

Why? Seems like a lot of trouble except when you know that a

cup of fresh Nettle tops provides four times your Vitamin K needs, 70% of Vitamin A and 50% of your calcium. It also kicks up your iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and trace amounts of much more.That's just one cup of fresh leaves.

Give it a shot.