Can someone please tell what I need to do to grow a large bed of stinging nettles? I.e. what type of soil do they need, what time of year do I sow the seeds, do I need to do anything special to get the seeds to germinate, how long do the seed take to germinate, how much do I water them and finally do they grow best in full sun/part shade or full shade.
I goggled how to grow stinging nettles but I didn't have any luck (unlike when I Google something like how to grow sweat corn(which I get a lot of hits when I look that up).
p.s. one of my friends has a few stinging nettles (that are about to go to seed) growing wild at there place which they kindly said I could harvest the seeds when they are ready
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rainbowgardener
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No idea... they come up as weeds where I am. But since they are common hardy weeds, I doubt it could be difficult. I think they are very tolerant of different soils, since they are common weeds all across the country.
Nettle is good as an accelerator for the compost pile. They say it has health benefit as a tea. Since I'm very sensitive to the pain of them, I was never brave enough to try it. Why do you want a large bed of the stuff?
When I typed growing stinging nettle into Google, I got lots of hits including this one:
https://www.localharvest.org/stinging-nettle-seed-C6169
that says full sun to part sun. It notes, as I would have said, that as a ubiquitous weed, it is prone to spread invasively, so be careful that your bed of nettles doesn't take over your yard.
Nettle is good as an accelerator for the compost pile. They say it has health benefit as a tea. Since I'm very sensitive to the pain of them, I was never brave enough to try it. Why do you want a large bed of the stuff?
When I typed growing stinging nettle into Google, I got lots of hits including this one:
https://www.localharvest.org/stinging-nettle-seed-C6169
that says full sun to part sun. It notes, as I would have said, that as a ubiquitous weed, it is prone to spread invasively, so be careful that your bed of nettles doesn't take over your yard.
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!potatoes!
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if you have a local patch you can dig up some roots and plant them, they will run and youll have a big patch in no time.
start seeds early spring, surface sow, cover lightly with rotten wood chips or pea gravel. keep moist or let the winter rains do what they do.
as mentioned its pretty much a weed and if you try not to grow it, chances are youll have a better crop than if you tried to grow it.
start seeds early spring, surface sow, cover lightly with rotten wood chips or pea gravel. keep moist or let the winter rains do what they do.
as mentioned its pretty much a weed and if you try not to grow it, chances are youll have a better crop than if you tried to grow it.