This common plant that causes an unpleasant sensation on contact, grows practically all over the world. The exception is Greenland and the very cold regions of Antarctica and the Arctic. It is a weed that often visits our gardens and we must fight it.
But despite these negatives, nettle has more positive sides. It is a universal plant that heals and nourishes. It can be used in herbal medicine, it can be used in the garden as a fertilizer, and it can be used in the kitchen as a healthy component of our diet.
Why does nettle sting
The pictures clearly show that the nettle is covered with fine hairs on the inside and on the stems. These projections are called stinging Italian. The bristles have a tubular structure, are hollow inside and are saturated with silica.
The hairs are quite fragile, and when we touch them, the tips break off and the rest sticks to the epidermis. In this way, formic acid (the same acid that ants have) gets into our skin, which is corrosive, and causes burning and itching of the skin.
An excellent organic fertilizer - nettle in the garden and on the balcony
Nettle contains a lot of substances that in the manure produced are an excellent source of plant nutrition. The composition of such slurry includes valuable elements, including nitrogen, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, silicon, various organic acids and a whole range of mineral salts.
On my balcony, the fermentation process of the leaves is just ending and soon I will have a full-fledged ecological fertilizer. The preparation of such fertilizer is very simple. Exhibition to collect 1 kg of fresh nettles, not yet having flowers. Finely chop it and pour 10 liters of water. It must be a glass or plastic vessel, absolutely not stone or metal.
Flooded nettle should be stirred every day so that it does not form a cap with bacteria and cover it with gauze or a cloth, because the smell it emits during fermentation attracts insects. After about two weeks, we pour the slurry. For watering the plants, we use a diluted fertilizer in a ratio of 1:10 and water it abundantly once every 2 weeks. The effects in yields are sure.
Nettle health properties
The health benefits of this troublesome plant have been known for centuries. Nettle cures many diseases. It has diuretic properties. anti-hemorrhagic, anti-diabetic, anti-dandruff and anti-seborrheic, lowering blood pressure. It contains a lot of vitamin K, B2, pantothenic acid, ascorbic acid.
In folk medicine, there is an opinion that stinging with nettles helps with rheumatism. Is it true? There is no scientific evidence, or at least no one has yet conducted in-depth studies indicating the effect of nettles on the treatment of rheumatism.
Nevertheless, I remember the times when I went to camps and sports groups. And after the evening training in the showers, we whipped ourselves with nettles all over our bodies. It hurt unearthly, but when you woke up in the morning, you felt like a young God.
Nettle in the kitchen, salad, juice, tea
From young, fresh nettle we can make an excellent healthy juice. The recipe is trivial, because it is enough to mix young nettle leaves with a blender, and then squeeze the juice from the resulting mass. Juice should be drunk 3 times a day for 2 tablespoons. It perfectly cleanses the body of toxins, improves the appearance of the skin. The effects are visible after two weeks.
Nettle can also be used as an ingredient in various salads and added to soups. Another use of nettle is teas made from dried leaves. I use them myself because they are diuretic. Consuming such teas is recommended for people suffering from gout, kidney stones. Tea does not stimulate like coffee or regular tea, but it is a valuable source of mineral salts and vitamins.
