Make your own nettle fertiliser
Making nettle fertiliser is a great activity for children who love to make garden potions! Stinging nettles are everywhere at the moment and although we tend to avoid them because of their sting, nettles are great for so many things! As well as being used to make delicious nettle soup, tea or pesto, they can also be turned into a highly nutritious organic fertiliser for your garden. It can also be used on indoor plants but you might not want to as it is a bit smelly!
What you will need:
Gloves
A container - preferably with a lid or some kind of cover
Nettles
Water
A sturdy stick
A weight, such as an old brick or large stone
What you need to do:
Before you set off to find some nettles, make sure you have some gardening or thick gloves with you and it’s also advisable to wear a thick long sleeved top to protect yourself from stings! Nettles often grow near old houses, in the corner of fields, on waste ground or in the quieter parts of our gardens and parklands.
When picking, young nettles are better because they break down quicker and have less plant fibre than older plants. Collect lots of nettles in your container, but it’s important to be aware that nettles support some of our favourite butterflies, such as the small tortoiseshell and peacock so make sure you leave some and always leave the roots so the plant can continue to grow. You can also add additional weeds such as dandelions or even grass clippings.
Then comes the fun bit: grab your stick and mush and crush your nettles! The more damage you do to them, the greater the surface area to release the nutrients. Once the nettles have been crushed with your stick, weigh them down with an old brick or some large pebbles and then add enough water to cover the nettles. Pop your lid on top of the container but don’t completely seal it.
At this point, you’ll want to move the container to a far-off corner of the garden as it’ll get very smelly! Then wait patiently for it to brew. After 3-4 weeks your nettle potion will be ready to use. If you want to speed up the process, you can stir the brewing nettle potion once per day (remove the brick first). Watch the bubbles appear as you stir it! A good sign that your fertiliser is ready is when it stops visibly bubbling after stirring as that means the nettles are no longer actively fermenting.
The nettle fertiliser will be very potent and needs to be watered down before using it to feed the plants in your garden. To dilute it into a usable fertiliser, mix 1 part of your brewed nettle potion to 10 parts water. For example, one cup of your nettle potion to 10 cups of water. You may find it easiest to dilute and mix a small portion of nettle fertiliser in a separate container as you need it (immediately before use), rather than diluting a huge batch and storing it all.
Use your nettle fertiliser around the base of your garden plants, fruit and veg, and watch them grow! Don’t use on small seedlings as the fertiliser will be too strong and will damage them.
You can add more nettles and water throughout the growing season. Lift out the weight before adding more nettles. You can leave the old sludgy plant fibres in the container until the end of the season and then put them on the compost heap.
Author: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys