Stinging nettle seeds

Dony

Can anyone tell me where I can buy a decent quantity of stinging nettle seeds to sow?
Finding it hard to come by them.
Thanks

bongo2

Dig up a clump of root now or collect seeds in autumn. If you are growing for medicinal reasons, young, dry nettle tops contain the most nutrients. You can make clothes out of the root.

gsxr1

bongo2 wrote: »

Dig up a clump of root now or collect seeds in autumn. If you are growing for medicinal reasons, young, dry nettle tops contain the most nutrients. You can make clothes out of the root.

?? wha.

How do ya use nettles for any of that? Are they good for you?

wildlandscape

I make a great soup from young nettles at spring time. Its full of minerals - so good for you, it would put hairs on your chest :P

Also nettles make a great fertiliser too. Collect a bunch, put in a bucket of water and cover for about two weeks. Once ready (you will smell it a mile away) you can use on container plants and tomatoes at the mature stage. It needs to be diluted, 1 part to 10 parts water as a general rule of thumb.

Dr Galen

i can vouch for both of the above. Nettle soup is yum. Full of iron.

and yes nettle fertiliser water stinks, but I put it on the toms last year and they did well. just remember the gloves.....

bongo2

I make tea out of the young leaves. It tastes nice with a spoon of honey and it is full of vitamins and minerals. Apparently it is very good for your kidney's and some people claim it relieves arthritis pain. My husband uses the nettle tea to wash his hair. It gives it a nice shine and makes it thicker. He also uses it in the garden as a fertilizer.

gsxr1

is there any science fact behind the tales?

Dony

So does anyone know where you can actually get the seeds in Ireland?
They aren't for medicinal reasons.
I've a particularly bad gap in a hedge that I need to stop certain people from coming through and after failing for years of growing hedging in the gap (cause its always trampled on) I think a good dose of stinging nettles is the only cure.
I not trying to sting anyone but imo they are a great deterent.
I would dig them up from other areas but aren't they all died back now and kinda invisible?

SteelyDanJalapeno

Ye are all cracked lads,

smellslikeshoes

Dony wrote: »

So does anyone know where you can actually get the seeds in Ireland?
They aren't for medicinal reasons.
I've a particularly bad gap in a hedge that I need to stop certain people from coming through and after failing for years of growing hedging in the gap (cause its always trampled on) I think a good dose of stinging nettles is the only cure.
I not trying to sting anyone but imo they are a great deterent.
I would dig them up from other areas but aren't they all died back now and kinda invisible?

Stinging nettles aren't going to deter anyone, if you were having hedge trampled then nettles will be worse. Try something a little tougher such as blocking it up with some branches and making another go growing the hedge while they are there.

Nonmonotonic

Agree with smells, nettles die back in the winter and will not really deter trespass. You need something woody and thorny like gorse or Hawthorn/Whitethorn (my choice). These are native so they are hard to kill. There are other more ferocious thorny bushes but the may not be resilient enough.

If you REALLY want nettles just dig up some roots ( yellow in colour ) and transplant. Even a root fragment will probably take hold so you dont have to dig up a field.

lucylu

jebus I could sell you nettles but honestly you don't want them

I would go for a berberis darwini. it is thorny as hell and is evergreen, a lovely show of orange/ yellow flowers in spring and blue berries in autumn winter

oflynno

Dony wrote: »

So does anyone know where you can actually get the seeds in Ireland?
They aren't for medicinal reasons.
I've a particularly bad gap in a hedge that I need to stop certain people from coming through and after failing for years of growing hedging in the gap (cause its always trampled on) I think a good dose of stinging nettles is the only cure.
I not trying to sting anyone but imo they are a great deterent.
I would dig them up from other areas but aren't they all died back now and kinda invisible?

i would suggest gooseberry bushes,you can buy them and they have woeful thorns on them

Sonnenblumen

Pyracantha (various varieties) and alternatively Berberis Candidula make lasting but excellent painful barriers :eek:

Nonmonotonic

Dont know if you have resolved this issue however if not you could try the goosberrys currently (pardon the pun) on sale in Lidl. They wont be very tall but are a cheap deterrent.

johno2

I'd go for brambles or gorse if I was you. If you take cuttings from some existing brambles and plant them in good compost they will be rooted in less than a month. Plant them once they seem to be well established and give them a good dose of nitrogen fertilizer to get the branches going. Then see if you can get a bunch of thorny branches from a whitethorn or blackthorn tree to temporarily block up the gap. That's important to keep them from being trampled immediately. The brambles will quickly grow up through the branches and should form a much better barrier than nettles. After a year a cat won't be able to get through there.

johno

Fuinseog

wildlandscape wrote: »

I make a great soup from young nettles at spring time. Its full of minerals - so good for you, it would put hairs on your chest :P

Also nettles make a great fertiliser too. Collect a bunch, put in a bucket of water and cover for about two weeks. Once ready (you will smell it a mile away) you can use on container plants and tomatoes at the mature stage. It needs to be diluted, 1 part to 10 parts water as a general rule of thumb.

for soup, you just use young nettles, don't you? are the old ones harmful or just too bitter?

wildlandscape

"for soup, you just use young nettles, don't you? are the old ones harmful or just too bitter? "

Fuinseog, the young nettles are richer in nutrients but also more tender than the older ones.