Uses for Nettles | Down the Lane

Thy're simple to find and underused

"Give the nettle a break", someone said to me a couple of years ago when I had just spent three hours getting the things out of the vegetable patch.
They are a nuisance, but the value of them is very high on the natures freebie list.

There can't be another plant which there are so many of in this Country and as much underused !?

The only reason a nettle stings is that it's built up a defence to creatures it doesn't like - which is most animals and us !
Certainly since I let mine grow out of control around the chicken pen, I haven't had a fox get underneath (fingers crossed).
They do support over 40 various forms of insects including some butterflies -

they are important to us and nature.

What do we get back and what can we use them for I couldn't get into 8 pages, let alone one -so here's some of the more popular....

No one has yet to give an answer 'why', but research was carried out where people with Artiritis were given treatment to their hands and all results showed a reduction in pain.

Why not buy a Book ? If you can get 101 uses for the price, it sounds good to me !

Amazon review ........'101 uses for Stinging Nettles' by Piers Warren
(see right-hand sidebar for Amazon link!)

Stinging nettles are, for many of us, nothing more than persistent weeds with a painful sting. But apart from having an important role in the web of life, nettles are an incredibly useful plant to mankind. They have been put to myriad uses by our ancestors, and many of these are still valid today. Already stinging nettle products are growing in popularity in the field of alternative medicine, as their wide range of health benefits becomes better known.
This unique book explores the diverse uses of this fascinating plant - in the garden and the kitchen, for their medical and fibrous properties and so on. It is packed with practical suggestions, as well as a guide to the botany of stinging nettles, and how to collect and store them. For example, you will discover how to use nettles to:

Make a liquid fertilizer, brew an unusual beer, make a dandruff treatment, protect beehives, flavour an omelette, make friendship bracelets, repel flies naturally, make green or yellow fabric, dyes, keep yourself warm in winter and much more

Personally I've tried the hair tonic and it did seem to make the scalp feel a lot better afterwards. Mind you, I haven't got a lot of hair anymore !

I've also tried the recipe below with great success.....

'The nettle is a plant that requires high levels of nitrogen in the soil to grow well, using the leaves in sprays of several kinds. As well as using nettles as an activator on the compost heap the organic gardener can use them as a liquid manure and as an aphicide - to kill aphids (greenfly) Gather 224g (l/21b) young nettles and soak in a bucket of water for a week. Strain and use undiluted as a control of aphids and some other insects. Add the mushy nettles to the compost heap'

It is said that if you boil nettles and eat them, it will sharpen up your senses and clear your mind and brain.
Nettle Broth is supposed to induce appetite and help with insomnia problem.
Also said to be a cure for scabies and gangrene.

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.”
Alice Walker
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The Nettle has many uses

Thy're simple to find and underused