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NETTLES help please

bradleywood32bradleywood32 Posts: 59
in Problem solving
Hi All,

I new to the forum and did a quick search but couldn't find anything to help.

I have a 2YO daughter and loves running around in the garden. However I have found some stinging nettles at the bottom of the garden underneath some conifers I've had in for 2/3years.

It would be difficult for me to dig out the nettles, how can I get rid of them without killing the conifers? 

Thanks 
Brad
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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @bradleywood32. You can use a targeted weedkiller on them, following instructions carefully, which won't affect your conifers,  but the best, and most nature friendly alternative is, to put a small physical barrier there.
    That will allow your daughter to learn about nettles and their value to wildlife, and possibly see the butterflies' caterpillars using them    :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bradleywood32bradleywood32 Posts: 59
    We have an lovely flower garden at the side with a rose Bush, delphiniums and this wonderful plant. I don't know what it is (if you could tell me what it is I'd be forever grateful) but it attracts bees and butterflies. Its lovely when it fully flowers

    Also I've built my own planter which has sweet peas growing up, with pansies and lilies in.

    I just dont want her chasing her ball down the hill and going into the nettles as our garden is on a slope.

    Thanks for you advice
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited March 2020
    That's one of the perennial wallflowers - Erysimum. There are hundreds of varieties, but Bowles Mauve is one of the best known, so it may be that  :)

    My girls both grew up surrounded by all sorts of stuff, so keep her interested in how plants & wildlife work, and engage her as much as you can, even in things you might be wary of. Children are surprisingly good at learning what they can and can't do in a garden  :)

    I should have said - another way to eliminate the nettles is to just keep cutting them back to the ground as soon as they have any growth. You're then cutting off their means of survival, and they would probably disappear quite rapidly. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Eryismum Bowles Mauve. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    If you decide to cut down the nettles, don't waste them, they are rich in nitrates so make a valuable addition to the compost heap if you have one.  Or, you can chop them roughly, soak them in water in a closed (because they will pong) container for a few weeks, and you've got a liquid feed.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    You can also eat stinging nettles when they're young and small - useful if your local shops have run short of green vegetables.  Cooking removes their "sting".  They taste like mild spinach.   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    You can also make a tasty tea out of the young leaves, either fresh or dried for later.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Available on Ama*on

    "... 
    FREE Delivery
    Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks. "

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    16 quid!
    So expensive - you said it twice @Dovefromabove :D

    I actually collected a couple of cuttings last year when I was out for a walk. One has survived. It'll go round by the shed - ready for butterfly/caterpillar use
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited March 2020
    Cut and pasted it so it must be a glitch @Fairygirl ... but that's definitely the price  :o

    We could make ourselves a fortune!  

    Do you think there's a market for ground elder seeds ... perhaps we could talk one up  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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