A Nettle patch, but what are the uses?
The nettle is often shunned in the plant world. Most of us have at some point in our lives fallen into a nettle bed or at least been stung by it’s tiny needles. However it holds the crown of one of the most maligned yet phenomenally useful of all ‘weeds’. So in praise of the humble nettle I’ve put together a list of 30 uses and facts surrounding this king of all weeds.
- Rennet substitute when boiled in water with a high salt content.
- Fibres can be extracted to make cloth
- Liquid plant feed
- Compost activator
- Can be rubbed into leaky wooden crates
- Antidruff shampoo
- Green Dye – for food and clothes
- Insect repellent – a fresh sprig can be placed in food cupboards
- The roots boiled with alum will make a yellow dye
- Make a beer
- Protect beehives
- Facial steam for oily skin
- Treatment for kidney stones
- Dried to make tea
- Made into Nettle Soup
- Used instead of spinach in Nettle Lasagna or Canneloni
- High in iron
- High in tryptophan a pre-cursor to serotonin so acts as a natural anti-depressant
- Anti-asthmatic
- Can treat gout
- Treat rheumatism (if you can put up with the sting)
- High in vitamin C
- Source of Calcium
- Source of Magnesium
- Can be used to make paper
- Attract aphids so important for ladybirds
- Used by the German army in WW1 to make uniforms following a shortage of cotton
- Old leaves act as a laxative
- Important Habitat for tortoise shell butterfly
- The sting is administered by tiny needles all over the leaf which breaks the skin and releases formic acid – the same as an ant sting, it’s neutralized by cooking or drying the nettle.
18 June 2011, 1:58 pm
how do you use the nettle to make it anti asthmatic?
19 June 2011, 1:07 pm
Hello Matt – To be honest I wrote this so long ago I can’t remember where I got this information from. I found this link which might be of interest http://anniesremedy.mobi/herb_detail.php?oil_ID=107
I’d suggest doing your own research when it comes things like this – Andy and myself are not trained herbalists or doctors but hopefully we do put out interesting lines of enquiry.