Stinging Nettle / Urtica dioica

Yes you need to handle with gloves, but that is the only downside to this mineral-laden super-food. Plant in fall or early spring for cut-and-come-again harvest until hot weather. Add to stir-fries, steam like spinach, make nesto (substitute nettles for basil in any pesto recipe), dry for calcium-rich tea, infuse in vodka for cool green martinis with a health kick. Our strain has especially tender leaves.

Culture: Direct sow in fall or late winter; thin as they grow to 6-12 inches apart. Harvest growing tips often to keep plants bushy and keep them from flowering. As hot summer weather begins, plants will go to seed no matter what you do.

Saving Seed: Leave the best plants in the garden as summer begins. When seeds are dry, pull up the whole plant and shake the seeds into a bag. If you have a good place for them, nettles will self-seed easily. Go ahead and plant summer crops on the nettle spot; in the fall, just rake the soil and keep it watered, and the nettles will return.

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