Nettle articles
Posted: 25 Nov 2023, 21:26
THE HELPER
(From an article on the stinging nettle by Anita Linder in Bio-Dynamics, the journal of the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Assn. of the U.S.A.)
Despite a theoretic knowledge of the importance of Urtica Dioica many bio-dynamic gardens still fail to put their knowledge to practical use. I would like to describe, therefore, two easy and beneficial ways in which I prepare stinging nettle for use in my own garden.
I make a liquid manure by following a very simple procedure. In my compost area I have a wooden tub, 31in. in diameter and 16in. deep, but it could be any size. This is sunk into the ground except for the top half inch and is covered by a wooden board from spring to winter. Stinging nettle grows everywhere in my neighbourhood .... it is one of the first greens to come up in spring. The young shoots, just a few inches high, are cut for kitchen use. They are the most delicious spinach I have ever eaten. When the plants are about two feet high I do the first cutting for my tub.
I fill my tub with as many nettles as it will hold and cover them with water to the rim. I have my own well but rainwater would be excellent too. Every day for about two weeks I stir the contents with a wooden stick, because many of the nettles float to the top at first; after that they fall together and sink to the bottom and in two weeks the leaves have dissolved. What remains is a green liquid and on the bottom fibrous stems which I add to the compost-heap. By this time the liquid has a strong odour.
1 use the liquid manure on all my seedlings including the newly planted ones. I do not sprinkle. I remove the sprinkler top from the can and pour. This nettle manure helps wherever something is out of balance". For example in the second half of May, 1972, we had heavy frost and my wax beans, which had been healthy and strong with their first two leaves well developed, turned brown. I gave them a good dose of the manure and they recovered in a short time and I had a wonderful harvest in spite of the wet summer......
To come back to my tub; when it is almost empty I cut more nettles and fill it up again with water. I do this again and again all the summer. The best liquid, I would say, is made from nettles when they bloom. During a dry period plants which have had the manure withstand the drought much better. I also use nettles in another way, again following the advice of Dr. Steiner. Under the shade of some big trees in my compost area, I dig a hole about two and a half feet square and one and a half to two feet deep and line it with an inch or two of peat moss When the nettles bloom I fill the hole with them, pack them tight and cover everything with earth. After a year when the nettles are blooming again I empty the hole. The nettles have become rich black earth, more valuable than the finest compost. I throw handfuls over the vegetable and berry gardens only a homeopathic dose is needed.
I think I have to thank the stinging nettle a great deal, as I really have never had so far any pests or plant sickness in my garden.
(From an article on the stinging nettle by Anita Linder in Bio-Dynamics, the journal of the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Assn. of the U.S.A.)
Despite a theoretic knowledge of the importance of Urtica Dioica many bio-dynamic gardens still fail to put their knowledge to practical use. I would like to describe, therefore, two easy and beneficial ways in which I prepare stinging nettle for use in my own garden.
I make a liquid manure by following a very simple procedure. In my compost area I have a wooden tub, 31in. in diameter and 16in. deep, but it could be any size. This is sunk into the ground except for the top half inch and is covered by a wooden board from spring to winter. Stinging nettle grows everywhere in my neighbourhood .... it is one of the first greens to come up in spring. The young shoots, just a few inches high, are cut for kitchen use. They are the most delicious spinach I have ever eaten. When the plants are about two feet high I do the first cutting for my tub.
I fill my tub with as many nettles as it will hold and cover them with water to the rim. I have my own well but rainwater would be excellent too. Every day for about two weeks I stir the contents with a wooden stick, because many of the nettles float to the top at first; after that they fall together and sink to the bottom and in two weeks the leaves have dissolved. What remains is a green liquid and on the bottom fibrous stems which I add to the compost-heap. By this time the liquid has a strong odour.
1 use the liquid manure on all my seedlings including the newly planted ones. I do not sprinkle. I remove the sprinkler top from the can and pour. This nettle manure helps wherever something is out of balance". For example in the second half of May, 1972, we had heavy frost and my wax beans, which had been healthy and strong with their first two leaves well developed, turned brown. I gave them a good dose of the manure and they recovered in a short time and I had a wonderful harvest in spite of the wet summer......
To come back to my tub; when it is almost empty I cut more nettles and fill it up again with water. I do this again and again all the summer. The best liquid, I would say, is made from nettles when they bloom. During a dry period plants which have had the manure withstand the drought much better. I also use nettles in another way, again following the advice of Dr. Steiner. Under the shade of some big trees in my compost area, I dig a hole about two and a half feet square and one and a half to two feet deep and line it with an inch or two of peat moss When the nettles bloom I fill the hole with them, pack them tight and cover everything with earth. After a year when the nettles are blooming again I empty the hole. The nettles have become rich black earth, more valuable than the finest compost. I throw handfuls over the vegetable and berry gardens only a homeopathic dose is needed.
I think I have to thank the stinging nettle a great deal, as I really have never had so far any pests or plant sickness in my garden.