On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:33:19 +0100, Stephen Howard wrote:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:36:12 GMT, Tim Challenger
"timothy(dot)challenger(at)apk(dot)at" wrote:



Stinging-nettle soup for your garden: :-)


Fill a big pot/drum with nettles, fill 3/4 with water and stand pot in a
warm location do not cover. It should start fermenting - leave for a week
or two, stirring every day or so. When it's finished fermenting it should
be a dark brown colour (and probably smell awful). Remove nettles and bung
on compost, you can now cover the pot if you want.

Ain't no 'probably' about the awful smell - it really does niff
something chronic!


Dilute 1:50 and spray to fight aphids.
or 1:10 or stronger as a liquid feed. Rich in nitrogen and potash.
Or so I'm told.

I've used it as a foliar feed, and it works wonders.
I'd be inclined to spray it on late in the evening, to give the odour
a chance to dissipate overnight.

Regards,

I only tried the nettle brew, but all these teas and infusions are pretty
popular over here. You can even get instant nettle infusion concentrate in
the gardening shops, just add water....
The field next to the garden has a patch of nettles right up to our fence.
So anything that grows through is fair game. I am happy with the bits in
his field as it feeds the caterpillars (spikey black ones with hundreds of
tiny white spots - peacocks?). But it looks like this year he's going to
dig that patch up. Shame.
--
Tim C.