Hello one and all, we have a new back garden to 'tame' and a significant section which I would love to turn into my Kitchen Garden is overrun with nettles.
As a totally novice gardener I would really appreciate some advice on how best to get rid of the nettles ready for planting next year...
Best method for getting rid of nettles (lots of them)
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Magic Beans
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Cheers,
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
First the good news: nettles only grow in good soil, so if you have a lot, you obviously have rich, friable soil!
Now how to get rid of them: you CAN dig them out this time of the year. Just do it very carefully and, every time you come to a "nest" of roots, ease them out of the soil so that you don't miss any and burn or compost them (though you won't be able to use the compost for several years until they are fully dead). Alternatively, just compost the top growth and not the roots, but that's a bit iffy, because the top growth may hold seeds which you obviously do not want. If you have a local garden rubbish collection, you can put them in there because the temperatures generated in large scale composting will kill them off.
If you are not averse to using chemicals, wait until the plants start putting on new growth in spring and treat them with a weedkiller containing glyphosate (widely available). It will take about three to four weeks for them to die and MAY need a second treatment. But as glyphosate only acts on chlorophyll and does not affect the soil, you can then use the area to plant or sow your vegetables.
Now how to get rid of them: you CAN dig them out this time of the year. Just do it very carefully and, every time you come to a "nest" of roots, ease them out of the soil so that you don't miss any and burn or compost them (though you won't be able to use the compost for several years until they are fully dead). Alternatively, just compost the top growth and not the roots, but that's a bit iffy, because the top growth may hold seeds which you obviously do not want. If you have a local garden rubbish collection, you can put them in there because the temperatures generated in large scale composting will kill them off.
If you are not averse to using chemicals, wait until the plants start putting on new growth in spring and treat them with a weedkiller containing glyphosate (widely available). It will take about three to four weeks for them to die and MAY need a second treatment. But as glyphosate only acts on chlorophyll and does not affect the soil, you can then use the area to plant or sow your vegetables.
you can use the fresh growing leaves as a green vegetable, steam the leaves until they are well wilted. we find the kids only eat them if theyre chucked in the gravy and blended. they are rich in iron and other minerals.
to get shot of them the choices are, spraying, repeated cutting till you exhaust the roots or digging them out, or a combination.
to get shot of them the choices are, spraying, repeated cutting till you exhaust the roots or digging them out, or a combination.
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PLUMPUDDING
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The young shoots make lovely nettle beer. I find the shoots a bit of a funny texture as greens, but they taste OK. Then as the others say, they dig up easily enough as they are quite shallow rooted. The only problem is getting them out of cracks of if they've grown between things. You just have to be persistent and get them as soon as new bits appear. They make excellent compost and the best way to make sure the bits don't seed or the roots recover is to stick them in a dustbin of water and make nettle tea. It absolutely stinks so needs a lid on, but is a great plant food diluted.
Hi Magic Beans,
The way I see your dilemma is that just at present weed killer would be wasted. To me the use of Roundup or any other weed killer containing Glyphosate would be the preferred method. At this time of year it will not work.
My suggestion for action at this present moment is to lay a sheet of polythene adjacent to the nettles and very carefully, without shaking them, cut the nettles individually and place them on the polythene.
At present the nettles are still holding this years seeds and by cutting carefully you may prevent the next generation from germinating next year or in the years to come. I appreciate this is very laborious and time consuming but in the long run it will save you hours and hours of work.
When you have taken all the foliage away, then and only then, should you attempt to dig the nettles out.
If you start digging with all the foliage on you will be sowing the seeds for next year and several years to come. As it is if these nettles have been there for any length of time there will be plenty that will germinate next year whatever you do now.
There are two types of stinging nettle the Perennial one, which has yellow roots and the Annual one which has white roots. The annual ones are easy to get rid of but the perennial ones represent quite a challenge.
Once you have taken the tops off then commence digging them out, trying very hard not to leave any small fragments of root in the ground. (these will grow and form a plant next year)
Use a fork to do the job as a spade which will simply cut the roots and make matters worse and ideally you should remove the entire root system with each plant. The snag is that several plants will be entangled in the ground. Keep a good eye out for fragments of root and just keep going until you have cleared the offending weeds.
Very laborious and boring but absolutely essential.
I can tell you now that there will be plenty of regrowth however careful you are but as they appear next year you will be able to clear them individually.
Sincerely,
JB.
The way I see your dilemma is that just at present weed killer would be wasted. To me the use of Roundup or any other weed killer containing Glyphosate would be the preferred method. At this time of year it will not work.
My suggestion for action at this present moment is to lay a sheet of polythene adjacent to the nettles and very carefully, without shaking them, cut the nettles individually and place them on the polythene.
At present the nettles are still holding this years seeds and by cutting carefully you may prevent the next generation from germinating next year or in the years to come. I appreciate this is very laborious and time consuming but in the long run it will save you hours and hours of work.
When you have taken all the foliage away, then and only then, should you attempt to dig the nettles out.
If you start digging with all the foliage on you will be sowing the seeds for next year and several years to come. As it is if these nettles have been there for any length of time there will be plenty that will germinate next year whatever you do now.
There are two types of stinging nettle the Perennial one, which has yellow roots and the Annual one which has white roots. The annual ones are easy to get rid of but the perennial ones represent quite a challenge.
Once you have taken the tops off then commence digging them out, trying very hard not to leave any small fragments of root in the ground. (these will grow and form a plant next year)
Use a fork to do the job as a spade which will simply cut the roots and make matters worse and ideally you should remove the entire root system with each plant. The snag is that several plants will be entangled in the ground. Keep a good eye out for fragments of root and just keep going until you have cleared the offending weeds.
Very laborious and boring but absolutely essential.
I can tell you now that there will be plenty of regrowth however careful you are but as they appear next year you will be able to clear them individually.
Sincerely,
JB.
Hi Magic Beans,
As Johnboy quite rightly states this is the best method for removing nettles, I would like give you another option, instead of cutting the nettles down, use a propane flame gun and burn the nettles and this will burn the seed on the stem and will clear the ground of any that have already fallen, thus giving you the space to dig them out and not get stung ?
Best Wishes
Kevin
As Johnboy quite rightly states this is the best method for removing nettles, I would like give you another option, instead of cutting the nettles down, use a propane flame gun and burn the nettles and this will burn the seed on the stem and will clear the ground of any that have already fallen, thus giving you the space to dig them out and not get stung ?
Best Wishes
Kevin
I've learned.... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
Hi Kevin,
The last nettle patch I cleared I actually used that method but as Magic Beans is new to gardening I considered it and thought that he would be unlikely to own a flame gun.
Incidentally I prepare carrot beds for seed then use the flame-gun, prior to sowing, which generally prevents the first flush of annual weeds from germinating. This gives the carrots a good fighting chance and the carrots have generally established enough to make the weeding far easier.
JB.
The last nettle patch I cleared I actually used that method but as Magic Beans is new to gardening I considered it and thought that he would be unlikely to own a flame gun.
Incidentally I prepare carrot beds for seed then use the flame-gun, prior to sowing, which generally prevents the first flush of annual weeds from germinating. This gives the carrots a good fighting chance and the carrots have generally established enough to make the weeding far easier.
JB.
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Magic Beans
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- Location: Lovely Rural Lincolnshire
Thanks for all the great advice guys. Really hoping you are right about the fertile soil. Juding by the area to clear (7 metres by 10 metres) I can see there is a lot of hard work coming up for me.
I am wondering how much one of these flame guns cost and can anyone recommend one?
At the moment I am planning to get a small bonfire on the go and then carefully cut the green foliage down and burn it as I go. Following this carefully lift as much of the root as possible.
Now a dumb question ... is there a weed killer that can be added to the soil to kill off the remaining root bits or would it be better to be vigilant and dig out new plants as they appear?
Thanks again for all the great advice. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty and a tad tired...
I am wondering how much one of these flame guns cost and can anyone recommend one?
At the moment I am planning to get a small bonfire on the go and then carefully cut the green foliage down and burn it as I go. Following this carefully lift as much of the root as possible.
Now a dumb question ... is there a weed killer that can be added to the soil to kill off the remaining root bits or would it be better to be vigilant and dig out new plants as they appear?
Thanks again for all the great advice. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty and a tad tired...
Cheers,
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
If you did apply a radical weedkiller, Magic Beans, I don't think it would know where and when to stop killing roots and would kill your vegetables as well!!!
When we took over our current allotment more than 20 years ago, it was full of nettles (and bits of farm equipment, dead chickens, broken glass - but that's another story), and we did get rid of (most of) them within about two years, so it may seem daunting now, but you'll get there!
When we took over our current allotment more than 20 years ago, it was full of nettles (and bits of farm equipment, dead chickens, broken glass - but that's another story), and we did get rid of (most of) them within about two years, so it may seem daunting now, but you'll get there!
Hi Magic Beans,
I do not think that it is possible to kill off nettles in one hit even using Roundup the will always be some regrowth whichever method you choose to use. Certainly you have a task ahead that may to you seem daunting but once you have cleared the debris digging the roots out is not that laborious.
Without a shadow of doubt you will not get every scrap of root out and it is inevitable that you will get some regeneration. The thing to do is imprint your brain with 'Yellow Root' and every time that you disturb the soil, either digging or planting out, keep it to the forefront of your mind that yellow roots come out can save you quite a lot of time in the years to come.
I am not organic but you should be as organic as possible from the off. I do not spray any weed killers on productive land. If you were starting off next spring I would probably recommend the use of Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) once on productive land only. This is to give you a fighting chance against such weeds as Couch Grass but nettles can be combated by digging whereas Couch Grass cannot be.
The very best of luck in your endeavours in your very first year in growing.
JB.
I do not think that it is possible to kill off nettles in one hit even using Roundup the will always be some regrowth whichever method you choose to use. Certainly you have a task ahead that may to you seem daunting but once you have cleared the debris digging the roots out is not that laborious.
Without a shadow of doubt you will not get every scrap of root out and it is inevitable that you will get some regeneration. The thing to do is imprint your brain with 'Yellow Root' and every time that you disturb the soil, either digging or planting out, keep it to the forefront of your mind that yellow roots come out can save you quite a lot of time in the years to come.
I am not organic but you should be as organic as possible from the off. I do not spray any weed killers on productive land. If you were starting off next spring I would probably recommend the use of Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) once on productive land only. This is to give you a fighting chance against such weeds as Couch Grass but nettles can be combated by digging whereas Couch Grass cannot be.
The very best of luck in your endeavours in your very first year in growing.
JB.
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Magic Beans
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I'll tell you what guys you are all a veritable mine of information.
I'm looking forward to the new year and my first season of growing vegetables for the kitchen.
Johnboy you have a very good point of trying to be as organic as possible from the start.
The main challenge are the nettles. They dominate so completely that very little else gets a look in down there.
Think there will be an afternoons careful chopping and burning over the coming weekend!
Then setting out the four beds I want to get up and running. Thinking of which, another question I have is about what to use as pathways between the beds... but not sure which area of the forum to ask within?
I'm looking forward to the new year and my first season of growing vegetables for the kitchen.
Johnboy you have a very good point of trying to be as organic as possible from the start.
The main challenge are the nettles. They dominate so completely that very little else gets a look in down there.
Think there will be an afternoons careful chopping and burning over the coming weekend!
Then setting out the four beds I want to get up and running. Thinking of which, another question I have is about what to use as pathways between the beds... but not sure which area of the forum to ask within?
Cheers,
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
Magic Beans
Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an English Snail!
www.kitchengardenshop.co.uk
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alan refail
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Hi Alan,
Whereas I agree that Nettles make good eating in this particular instance I feel that Magic Beans should go for a clean sweep and get rid of the entire lot. A plot 7M x 10M which means that it is less than half a standard allotment so really there isn't the room for such luxuries. Apart from that I consider that Nettles for picking should not form part of a vegetable patch for very obvious reasons.
Do you actually grow nettles deliberately for eating on your vegetable patch or do you pick from elsewhere? My guess, knowing that you have a sizable plot, it will be from elsewhere.
JB.
Whereas I agree that Nettles make good eating in this particular instance I feel that Magic Beans should go for a clean sweep and get rid of the entire lot. A plot 7M x 10M which means that it is less than half a standard allotment so really there isn't the room for such luxuries. Apart from that I consider that Nettles for picking should not form part of a vegetable patch for very obvious reasons.
Do you actually grow nettles deliberately for eating on your vegetable patch or do you pick from elsewhere? My guess, knowing that you have a sizable plot, it will be from elsewhere.
JB.
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alan refail
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Hi Johnboy
Elsewhere. And I was forgetting about the size of MB's plot
Elsewhere. And I was forgetting about the size of MB's plot
Hi Alan,
I too have a designated patch outside my growing area. This I actually mown especially for nettles for consumtion. It is in a corner of a field that cannot be ploughed and the other side of the hedge about 6' wide from my growing area.
I remember now the meal I had in a Belgian local resturant in a very rural area which was Tripe served in a white sauce of Nettles and Onions.
It was delicious.
JB.
I too have a designated patch outside my growing area. This I actually mown especially for nettles for consumtion. It is in a corner of a field that cannot be ploughed and the other side of the hedge about 6' wide from my growing area.
I remember now the meal I had in a Belgian local resturant in a very rural area which was Tripe served in a white sauce of Nettles and Onions.
It was delicious.
JB.