Nettles seem to be fairly scarce around here so I keep a patch in the garden and it's full of life. In the spring I harvest it for teas and for drying, I've never got into eating the stuff though, later on I cut back the edges as necessary to keep it contained and use the trimmings for nettle feed and to boost the compost heap. Now the nettles are almost two metres tall and there's loads of different bugs and caterpillars on there. The most important thing, if you are keeping it for wildlife, is to make sure there are places nearby where the bugs can over winter safely.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Nettles get pulled- they cause pain to me and to my kids when they rampage around the garden, and they're hideous (the plants... the kids are OK-looking). Butterflies have three buddleias, cosmos, wildflowers galore to feast on, though it's the soil under the fuchsias where I find big fat caterpillars.
@pandakoalagirl49lS9c8QR_ 😊 It’s a common mistake to make, but you won’t have butterflies on your buddleia etc for long if they have none of the right plants for their caterpillars to feed on 😢
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Nettle central round here, so not really necessary for me to cultivate them in my garden, although I do have a couple round the back of the shed. They're quite happy in there with all the other stuff for wildlife. The 'chain' for insects/pollinators etc is very important though, if you don't live in an area like I do, which is residential, but surrounded by woodland, farmland and lots of hedgerows.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
There re plenty of nettles, brambles etc in the verges and woodland edges/clearings around here, as well as many unkempt/un-gardened gardens, so I don't feel the need to let them grow in my (small) garden.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Lol @wild edges i have a patch where it doesn’t hurt anyone except the husband because he doesn’t respect it. I have the space and it’s for the butterflies or caterpillars and I’ve made liquid feed from it so it’s a useful plant. I’m interested in the medicinal and nutritional qualities of nettles, plantain and dandelions too. Some weeds deserve respect.
I am lucky enough to have a derelict small area at the end of my garden where the hedge is never cut, and the weeds just grow and are never touched. I stop them creeping up the garden with an annual spray of weedkilleralong the front edge. I Ilikeplants said:
Do you leave it to grow for butterflies?
Do you cut it down to the ground at certain points of the year?
Do you just cut off the seed head bits?
Do you compost it all, or just not seed heads and roots?
I had left mine for butterflies but not seen many this year anyway. I cut off the seed heads but maybe not all because I’ve had some nettle growing out of my made compost last year. I’m wondering if I should chop it all back and get the roots out too from the patch because it’s getting too big. I’ve not been brave enough to cook it or make nettle tea. Should I get rid and put it in the green bin for end of year now summer is over?
stack small branches and leave them to rot down, hoping one day to have hedgehogs take up residence. I am surrounded by uncultivated fields but get some small satisfaction from knowing I am doing my little bit for the local wild life. When I first moved here I explored the distant tip of my garden only to discover it had been used as a dumping ground for stones etc No obvious sign of soil whiich is why I have left it to its own devices. Nettles, bracken and various weeds grow there, surrounded by hawthorn and blackthorn hedge, stone wall and ivy so it should suit something wild and woolly.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The 'chain' for insects/pollinators etc is very important though, if you don't live in an area like I do, which is residential, but surrounded by woodland, farmland and lots of hedgerows.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
i have a patch where it doesn’t hurt anyone except the husband because he doesn’t respect it. I have the space and it’s for the butterflies or caterpillars and I’ve made liquid feed from it so it’s a useful plant. I’m interested in the medicinal and nutritional qualities of nettles, plantain and dandelions too. Some weeds deserve respect.
stack small branches and leave them to rot down, hoping one day to have hedgehogs take up residence.
I am surrounded by uncultivated fields but get some small satisfaction from knowing I am doing my little bit for the local wild life. When I first moved here I explored the distant tip of my garden only to discover it had been used as a dumping ground for stones etc No obvious sign of soil whiich is why I have left it to its own devices. Nettles, bracken and various weeds grow there, surrounded by hawthorn and blackthorn hedge, stone wall and ivy so it should suit something wild and woolly.