Nettles.

Nettles are not the gardener’s favourite wild plant when trying to create beauty in a garden!

Comma Butterfly. Sue Kennedy (rspb-images.com)

They are robust perennials that seed and spread in seemingly any aspect and soil. Although we may want to remove them from our borders, leaving them to grow in certain areas of the garden can offer great benefits to wildlife, and to us.

Nettles provide perfect habitat for Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies to lay their eggs as they are eaten by very few grazing animals due to their stinging needles. Caterpillars feast on the leaves when they emerge and earwigs, ladybirds and beetles feed on the aphids that live on the leaves and stems. Birds will also feed on the seed later in the year.

For the gardener, they create a nutritious, (free!) high nitrogen plant feed that can particularly benefit fruit trees and bushes, shrubs and perennial plants, tomatoes and courgettes.

To make it; check first that there are no green butterfly eggs of caterpillars on the plants.

• Wear suitable gloves.
• Put the nettles into a bucket or plastic container with lid. (A wheelie bin if you want to make a big batch!)
• Cover nettles with rain water and push and scrunch them down.
• Leave somewhere to ferment (preferably a warmer area to speed up the process) for 1-4 weeks.
• When it smells bad and is dark brown, it’s ready!

This can then be diluted: 1 part nettle tonic to 10 parts water, so that the mixture is the colour of weak tea when you pour it out of the watering can.

Comfrey also makes an excellent plant fertiliser, full of almost all the nutrients plants need so, if you have either of these in abundance in your garden, you can make your own free plant food!

Comfrey and Honeybee: Nick Upton (rspb-images.com) 

There are more details about the benefits of nettles to wildlife on the RSPB website here: Nettles and wildlife and a variety of other uses for nettles including recipes here:10 uses for nettles