Growing Herbal Nettle

Fresh Nettle shoots emerge from a forest garden bed, mulched with straw.

NETTLE, AN HERBAL ALLY IN THE GARDEN:

Nettle is a wonderful herb, native to forests and slopes here in the Midwest. It is a member of the Uticaceae family, Urtica Dioica or more commonly called Stinging Nettle. It is as hearty as the bold north. Prickly to those who budge into it, but take a gentler approach, and it is very nourishing. If you’re a hiker or have spent time in a forest, then you are likely familiar with Nettle.

Spring Nettle shoots emerge from the forest floor, soil is covered with natural leaf mulch from the trees above.

DESPITE A BAD REPUTATION FOR STINGING, NETTLE CAN ACTUALLY BE A HEALING HERB.

Poor Nettle gets a bad rap for obvious reasons. It grows heartily right where you didn't expect it, and you find it in just the wrong way while weeding. But once you get to know the sight of it, you'll warm to both its nutritional and medicinal properties. It is the bane of any casual passerby because of the tiny hairs on its leaves which can sting on contact and leave a nasty tingling sensation for a short period. Even most grazing animals avoid it for that reason.

But Nettle has a few secrets, just lean in a bit more. Did you know that the juice from Nettle itself will calm the sting? And Nettle also almost always plants itself next to its ‘best friend’ Burdock. If you crumple a bit of the Burdock leaf and rub it on the Nettle sting, it will quickly go away. Of course, correctly identifying the plants is key to unlocking this, so make sure to do your homework and source appropriately.

After years of knowing the plant, I’ve stopped calling it Stinging Nettle. I have come to know it better. I have found it rarely stings and often heals. It is like an eager best friend who shouts to get your attention so they can share something wonderful with you. It is an herbal ally in the garden and the home, and for that reason I call it Herbal Nettle.

ITS BAD REPUTATION AS A WEED IS UNFAIR AS WELL — NETTLE CAN BE A HEALER OF SOIL.

There are certain herbs that like to plant themselves in disturbed soils and act as healers or repairers of the soil. Mullein, Burdock, Dandelion and Nettle are all great examples. Finding Nettle in your yard may be an indicator of poor soil conditions, so even if you don’t decide to keep Nettle, it is still providing you with wonderful information on how to amend the soil for other plants. Nettle is full of nitrogen, so if you have a garden compost, add some Nettle into the mix as a very healthy tonic for other plants. It can also easily be made into a compost tea to feed other plants throughout the season. Nettle also attracts pollinators - it is a delicacy for several species of butterfly babies like the Red Admiral - attracting wonderful pollinators to the garden and forest systems.

Nettle on a gentle slope at the edge of grass, garden and forest edge. It has found a spot near the Hostas and some Mullein on a hill. The Hostas’ edges have cleared just a perfect growing space from the grass and are tipped to drain right into the Nettle. Both Nettle and Mullein are healing plants for poor soils.

IDEAL GROWING CONDITIONS FOR NETTLE:

Nettle can be planted from seed, but it will likely plant itself - finding its way into your forest garden or patch of woods and introducing itself. It grows in rich soils usually with high phosphate and nitrate. It can also indicate a wet, poor-draining soil.

If you’re seeking to cultivate Nettle, it prefers consistently wet soil and sun so look for a place at the edge of the forest, or on a drainage slope. Ours tends to grow on our forest slope at the outlined edges of the tree canopy where rain will drip down and keep the soil sufficiently hydrated.

Nettle will grow all year long, but is best harvested as an herb in early spring, when the sprouts are young and fresh. We begin to see small shoots emerge in April and May. This is always some of the first green of the season, while other plants have yet to wake. It’s not unusual for Nettle to be the first burst of green in the forest while winter’s final snowflakes make their last case.

Nettle is believed by many to be a weed as it can expand across a bank with ease. If your aim is to remove Nettle, clearing one stem will not immediately eradicate the bunch. And thank goodness because it is such a hearty and useful friend to have in the garden. But there are ways to plant Nettle where both you and it will be happy. More on that below.

In summer, Nettle can grow to be six feet tall or more. We have a small space next to a retaining wall where a patch of Nettle will sometimes grow tall, leaning stalks that blow gently in the wind as tall as corn.

Nettle grown in forest pots.

GROWING NETTLE IN CONTAINERS

Nettle loves a gentle sun, but not drying out. Dappled light, planted on a slope, or near edges of trees is great. Our tiny forest is small enough that we walk every inch of it quite frequently during the growing season. And while we have designated growing beds, Nettle, like Burdock, is one of the plants that prefers to be just out of the balanced loamy soil in the garden bed. It prefers instead to sit on the rugged path, ready to get to work and heal that trodden soil. It is lovely for the forest system but can be tricky to keep in place as your family wanders about. So after a few seasons of negotiation, I had an idea to try transplanting the Nettle into large forest pots. This would keep the herb in the forest, but contain it in designated areas so that my family could move about freely.

Here’s the thing about Nettle: it is incredibly powerful, but also quite particular. Strong willed. It wants what it wants or it will not play along. Nettle has relatively shallow roots that don’t really like to be disturbed. And it grows as a patch, not usually as an individual plant. So as I considered transplanting, I dug up 10-12 plants as a group, and reset them in a large pot with the same soil as the forest floor. I did not use potting soil, or condition the soil at all, Nettle would not have any of that fuss. Instead, I simply mimicked the growing conditions of the path as closely as possible. Part of that process meant that I did not cover the plants with any soil once they were in the pot, rather just carefully setting them in the pot on top of forest soil, watering an extra bit and allowing the group to recover from the move. That was it. The hardest part is not over fussing, and letting Nettle run the show.

Since then, Nettle has grown for years in our forest pots as a perennial. Every now and then I spot a bit growing on our forest paths. And if it is enough out of the way, then some years I just let it be, to do its job and heal the soil. Other times I will scoop up the little patch and add it to the forest pots. It doesn’t mind if you go slowly, don’t pinch it, and have a light touch. I find when I work in partnership with Nettle, it is one of the friendliest plants in the forest.

USING NETTLE IN YOUR HERBAL APOTHECARY

Nettle has many hidden and useful properties. It is both a food and an herbal medicinal. When cooked, the tiny stinging hairs are neutralized with heat, and Nettle can be eaten as a green - similar to spinach. Young nettle plants can be softened in a hot pan and sautéed or blended into soups.

As an herb, dried Nettle leaves make a wonderful nourishing tea. The herb has very supportive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that support overall health. The tea can also help to reduce skin irritation and alleviate seasonal allergy symptoms.

A FAVORITE HERB FOR A FOREST GARDEN

When considering herbs to include in an herb garden, most gardeners think of cooking herbs like Rosemary or Basil or perhaps Lavender. They are wonderful herbs in their own right, but Nettle might be my favorite forest herb for its emphatic tendency to spot areas in need of tending, and to get busy healing. It is not going to win the beauty contest, but it will be the work horse that champions the cause. It lives quite happily on the edge of things — just outside the boundary. It heals the soil and is nourishing to the body, and is a wonderful companion to a food forest system.