Here's Why You Should Grow Nettles 

When I am suffering from seasonal allergies I make a strong cup of Nettle tea and I can breathe easier for around four hours.

Nettles saved Irish people during the famine of 1847 when there was no other food available .also nettle seeds are fantastic for health benefits too

My favourite cheese maker, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, in Prince Edward County, Ontario, makes a chèvre named ‘Nettles Gone Wild’. A nettle leaf is impressed on the rind. When it is aged and ready, it is absolutely BRILLIANT. The nettles impart an earthy, mushroomy flavour profile that is divine. I always buy more than I can possibly consume! The conundrum is that they now also make Truffles Gone Wild chèvre - you can only imagine how agonizing it is to make the choice between the two, so naturally I buy both!

Several years ago I took a wild foods class at a park in West Seattle. We foraged wild nettles, steamed them and layered them with phyllo dough to make Spanakopita! Delicious! We also collected dock and other "weedy" greens and made a tasty salad. I have been eating my garden weeds ever since. Just love your videos!

Your videos are full of information, but I just love how I can also use them for entertainment when I have a little free time. Very calm, relaxing, friendly and informative at the same time. Thank you.

To keep nettles for soup later in the year pick the young leaves, wash them then put them in a bag and freeze them. Don’t bother defrosting, lust add them to the pan and no chance of stings. Not advising anyone do this themselves but for those who suffer from arthritic pains the sting of the nettle can be less than the pain of the arthritis and can relieve the arthritic pain. I get pains in my thumbs and wrists and often run my hands through the nettle patch. The initial discomfort dies down and the relief in my joints lasts a couple of days. I generally don’t bother with gloves when I’m removing nettles for the same reason (though a face visor might be worn at times) The mature plants yield a yarn comparable to flax and has been used for making linen in locations where flax can’t be grown. You can also get natural dyes from the roots.

Camerawork is now amazing and the speaking seems completely natural (which makes me feel much more relaxed when watching :) Ready to see the views on the channel take off!

Ironically infusing dried nettle leaves into a salve can be used to relive itch from other stinging plants and insects, also supposed to help joint swelling from arthritis.

I have been harvesting nettles for years and make a tea blend of nettles, bee balm and mint to soothe symptoms of seasonal allergies. Really lovely tea and it works!

Super cool! I need to grow these. I'm not sure if I have them in my yard as weeds. Titus Morris showed picking and rolling the leaves up so that stinger was on the opposite side and then can eat.

A great episode here, how we would be healthier if we use stinging nettles more, I think you covered most uses here, well done 👏

We made a delicious nettle pesto this spring. Pretty much like regular pesto, just replace the basil with nettles. Very green.

Now we just need great uses for bindweed!

I use compost tea after planting tomatoes, only before flowering, and then comfrey compost tea, I make ravioli with cheese and nettle.

In pretty much all the Balkan countries nettles are a spring staple, typically consumed in a stew, soup or my favourite nettles pap.

Seeds very, tasty, nutritious and store well

woahh...the amount of times I've used weed killer on them...my gosh, I just hate getting stung, and having small kids, doesn't help. But now I know where to put my chilli plant when there's aphids on it. Near some stinging nettles so the ladybirds can eat them up. 😁 Thanks for posting such a meaningful video, of a plant quite misunderstood. 😌

Well now I feel slightly less angry about all of the stings I have on my hands from weeding yesterday... I love the idea of steeping them for plant feed or use as compost. I love all your videos, learnt a lot from this in particular!

Great vid showing permaculture benefits...almost everything growing in your yard can be used either for fertilizer, to eat, mulch or to make medicines, etc. I also use a shredder for cardboard which becones mulch and compost in my garden.

I love Nettles, I made nettle pesto, soup and other recipes, but I also make a nettle shampoo bar, and hair tea. My hair loves them too

i put nettles in my garden on purpose. they don't grow wild around here and i wanted to try some recipes

Beautiful video! I love the recipes, I had no idea it can be used in so many different ways. Thank you!!🌱🌿💚🐞

Awesome! Love nettle tea + as a wonderful leafy veg bed for poached salmon 😋

Brilliant Ben! I will have to try the tea and cooking them. Have a great weekend!

I love nettles. I make a nettle and mint tea almost every evening in spring and summer. I also dry the leaves for winter.

Oh, I hope I find nettles in my yard! I let my stream bank grow wild, and I love finding things that I didn't know was there! This year, we have a random blackberry briar (probably planted by a passing bird :) ).

I acquired a couple of nettle roots from a friend, for herbal, nutritional support and they were growing well! I moved last May, bringing a bunch of herbs and saved seeds to a property that has a neglected veggie garden (read fallow and covered in years of leaves), small apple orchard (6 trees) and blueberry bushes (3). It's a marvelous space and we hurriedly and randomly planted too much and got an overwhelming harvest and also an overwhelming number of pests and disease. I got the garden planner to make the most of a smaller garden this year. Your videos stoke my enthusiasm!

I had no idea there were so many uses for nettles! Thanks for sharing😊

They are great against greasy hair too

I cut mine with scissors down the stem making sure there are at least a couple of leaves left on the stem. If you come back later in the summer the plant will have grown 2 heads of fresh nettle. The tea can be absolutely fabulous, & I also put raw stems & leaves through a Juicer.

dry and grind the leaves to store for adding to soups over the winter!

Wish I watched this before the weekend! I tackled the nettles, and there were a lot. I also have a plague of aphids (black and green) on my veg. Been releasing ladybirds/lacewing larvae, but never thought nettles would help! Thanks for all your videos btw. Sometimes I sound like I know what I doing because of you ;)

We had a brush pile we cleaned up and a whole mess of nettles sprung up. Well my first thought was, dang, but I seen a couple videos and yours about making fertilizer. I haven’t tried it yet, and noticed an interesting use as they were between a soybean field and our acreage that the Japanese beetles loved them! Who would have thought that? I had whacked some out earlier in our path before all this new found info. I almost was ready to vanish them and now I love them. All the years we avoided them as a kid as they were prolific in the shaded ravine and where a natural organic floor was and here they have great potential. I also noticed that I usually find blackcaps growing in the same area so there must be some beneficial use they get from each other. I knew about tea, but this is all so much more. For those that need to contain them, I believe they have a rhizome root and edging may contain just like for mint family. Can’t remember if they have square stem, maybe they are mint family. Great vid, thanks!

We pick the top of tender young nettles and put them in our smoothies. The blender knocks off the spines and there is no sting. If you fold it up right, you can even just eat them raw straight off the plant. I had someone teach me do it right and it was delicious- kind of a tangy taste that reminded me a hint of pineapple, probably from all the vitamin C. Last year I collected a bunch of tall plants and tried to make nettle fiber. We got to the point where the kids and I were making short bits of rough rope with it. It is super strong! We are going to try again this year. I was watching videos about flax to get some ideas how to process it. I am looking forward to trying out the ideas in this video too. I love the idea of using it at mulch! I often think it's a good thing that stinging nettles sting or they would be over harvested from the wild because they are such an amazingly useful plant.

Another thing overlooked often- nettles provide very strong, but soft and breathable fibers with a silky sheen, farming nettles is far less damaging than cotton for the environment, especially as the leaves and seedheads can just be left to mulch after harvesting to promote a second crop, they do not require endless fertilizing and pesticides to grow and they can easily co-exist with local wildlife, they are just as useful as their cousin- hemp, which sadly you cannot grow legally, but in spite of the stupidity of making a plant illegal, nettles are a good alternative to cotton without the legal troubles of hemp. If we can industrialize the separation of the pulp and fiber, we could revolutionize textiles, especially clothing, for which it is ideal!

Very nice ways to make liquid fertilizer at home for using in the garden, thanks so much for sharing to us such informative of nettles plant

nettle not commons in Indonesia, i ever tried eaten nettle leafs with sambal its soo bitter ..now i know tht nettle so useful ..i would tried to grow nettle more

I ordered a packet of nettle seeds this year & agonized over where to plant them as I am nervous about them spreading more than desired. Thanks for all the great information, I had no idea about the aphids. My roses will be most happy to have them as a new neighbor!

I love this video! It was wonderful to hear how a "weed" can be so helpful and nutritious! Makes me feel like maybe we should look closer into what we label a weed

I didn't like nettles the first time I put my ungloved hand into them! But I do like them now. I have some in my apothecary, chopped and soaked in rum for a tincture. We almost over harvested the small volunteer nettle patch that showed up give years ago. Now I'm down to one lone plant that I've allowed to go to seed. Next year should be a tincture worthy harvest.

I'm going to make a nettle corner in my allotment ...thanks

they love my allotment seed them themselves everywhere and soon swamp my plants out if I am not quick enough to get them out they do my head in.

Getting such a laugh with you take on the videos, light entertainment with some fun and joy my 3 year old loves it also please keep it up

Great reminder on these unwelcome and too oft 'forgetable' plants. A quite well shot video by the way.

Love your doggie!

Excellent so so very interesting!!

took me a few years to figure it out but i have them yea.. love the tea. and i'll try other recipes you suggested... that soup look yummy

They showed up all over my yard this year...Of course I had to find out the hard way!

From time to time, I drink what's called a dried nettle long infusion--as a nutritional supplement. Instructions are easily found on line. Also, some US seed companies are starting to offer nettle seed. Can you believe it? Perhaps best sited in the back, fairy garden portion of a yard. I haven't yet tried this, but want to. Also an herbalist teacher taught our class that eating nettles was OK for people until buds start to form. When in bloom, avoid eating the nettles. As always, thanks for the lovely videos :)

Supposedly , good for joint health and regulation of the thyroid (hyper or hypo)! I drank it often after postpartum hypothyroidism and I do really believe it helped me!

Nettle and flax fibers are hollow, linens made from them are natural performance fabrics (they keep you warm in the cold and cool you in the heat). I’ve been eating nettles since the 1970s. They are absolutely delish and when the plants get older, can be harvested for fiber. And and all excess is great for compost or as mulch (comfrey is another that is great for compost, mulch, compost tea and is great to blend with nettles). Nettles freeze or dry really well, and are well worth the effort for year round enjoyment. Good video! You are doing great work and helping a lot of people both now and in the future.

Great presentation. I had no idea they could be used for a tea in the garden!

I watched a sparrow eating the nettle seeds today. It is something I have never witnessed before.

I use dried nettle for tea in the winter to mix with others herbs.

Best video yet Ben ! Lots of useful info. I am curious as to what makes them sting in the first place and how boiling manages to remove the sting ? I'm still reluctant to make a nettle tea for fear of a scratchy throat !

Thanks man this is awesome. I’ve tried the tee it’s great. It also kept pest away from my garden. Being able to withstand the damage taken from the pest

👍 Stinging Nettle works as good or better than regular medicine for my asthma and allergies.

I must look into this; I hope we have some around!

Thanks for sharing such an informative and educative video clip. Now I have great respect for this, once neglected super multi-purpose plant/medicinal herb.

Try making fermented nettel gloop. Some nettals in a jar with brown sugar in layers then leave for two weeks. Sive off brown liquid then dilute 500 times to water. Can be used directly on leaves or to water.

This is awesome thank you so much ❣️

I pick them without gloves. They won't sting if you do it right but you'll know all about it if you get it wrong! I leave mine to grow and just remove the seed heads as they appear before they can mature. I just lop them off as I would dead flowers and then at the end of the season I pull the whole lot for the compost and a new lot grow for the next season. Nettles do very well here in Tasmania's climate.

What would be the best plants to use the nettles as mulch around? Great information. My sister just made me nettle soup last week, it was so good!

I hate stinging nettles. All my life . Sooooo….. I guess I will give this a try??!

Wonderful!👏

Forgive me nettles! 😩😩😩😩 for I have sinned 🙏

Great video. Please more vids about "weeds". Love from Poland

And they are great for the hair too ☺️

What a wonderful video. I have tons of nettles in my crazy garden, but I never considered them a fertilizer. What a great idea! Thank you so much, Ben. How long can I keep this liquid nettle fertilizer?

Great video Ben. Nettle tea is a great natural plant food

An informative video as usual. Please add a warning that people on anticoagulant medication should avoid eating nettles or drinking nettle tea as it has a similar effect,

Looks like many of your viewers are already keen on this plant. I will try to make friends with this stinger. Thank you as always for the valuable information! Blessings...daisy

Matey Chops - Very good. Yep, they recon Nettles and Dandilion are amongst the most powerful super foods in the world. Super dooper woooper

And they make a fantastic nettle salt to cook with. It goes so well with meat.

Nettles are companion plant to fig tree.

nice video, the liquid fertilizer it can be a good antifungical and insect repelent if you put in water the nettles for 3 to 5 days instead of 30 days

*Nettle tea? That's courageous, I would love to see someone drinking live and be okay before I try that!*

Very cool, I never knew that!!

Can you please help me out here, I have been having thousands of Nettles by this time of year. Now I am unable to find a single plant. Also, the roots that we have been going for were about two feet from the plants, and very deep in the ground. You have got to do some serious digging with a sharpshooter to get even one. Thanks and have a happy day. Alvis

Nettles also make a beautiful natural dye!

They grow wild everywhere

I cook them like greens and in stews!!

When using water extraction, as illustrated in this video, or making fermented plant juice, nettle beats out most other plants in making mineral-rich liquid fertilizer! Imagine how good they must be for our health!

I want nettle and comphry so badly

I've made nettle soup - it's delicious, but I did read that you shouldn't eat it more than once a week as it's highly diuretic.

yes- the larvae of many beautiful butterflies eat nettle leaves, too. It's so difficult to find plants that will support the larval stage.

I've been boiling nettles to eat for fifteen minutes cos I was worried about the sting from them so I was wrong then. I'm going to extract the furry bit inside the stalks when ready to make fabric which I've seen on here...utub

I know some people did not like the music, but I really miss it!

I won’t think of them as the enemy now, I promise!

Nettle liquid fertiliser really stinks and only has a shelf life, I am told, of about 6 months. So, in theory, the stuff left over from the previous year would be not as effective in the spring of the next year. So, I suppose, there is, in theory, a bit of a 'hunger gap' until your first batch of the new year is ready in mid/late May (timetable Mid Wales). However, I am a convert to Nettle concentrate which has no bad smell (well not as much!), takes up much less storage space (diluted 1 to 50 or even 1 to 100 rather than just 1 to 10) and, again I am told, has a shelf life of up to a year. It is working for me. Ben, why not do a follow up episode showing folk how to make the concentrate? Also apart from dilution rates I am never quite sure about frequency of feed (I am opting for once a week from planting out to the end of July) and just how much to water in (opting for 5 litres of dilute solution for each 3 metres of raised bed - so one watering can full per bed). Are there any guidelines for frequency and amount you can share with us? thanks

Fun facts! Thanks!

I've been learning about neetles and their various uses and they sound great, a really healthy option. However, I also heard that once the neetle plants flower you can no longer eat the leaves unless you cut the plant back to encourage new growth. Is this true and if so, how much of the plant do we cut back to encourage that new growth?

I always knew u coult eat them. But they must call it something different over here across the pond. Because i wouldnt be able to recognize it at a glance...

I recommend not eating them after they get the flower heads on top because they did not taste as good. Pick them early and young and they are delicious.

Hello, to use nettle as natural fertiliser, is the nutrients in using painted nettle leaves the same as stinging nettles leaves?

They can also be eaten raw. Tried it myself a few times.

I put nettles in pancakes. When my oldest daughter started kindergarten she did not want to eat their pancakes because they had no green in them😂

Nice one 👍

Have any viewers tried stinging nettle microgreens?

Netttles do not grow here . Could they? Hot and dry here most of the time ! North central Oklahoma!