So there I was, minding my own business, pulling some weeds, picking some strawberries…then BAM!
Death knocked at the door…my door…my own near-death experience.
Okay, okay…maybe it wasn’t that bad but it sure seemed like it at the time.
What really happened? Well, buttercup, have you ever heard of Stinging Nettle? Have you ever had a run-in with it?
Yeah, unbeknownst to me some Stinging Nettle had grown up in my strawberry patch boxes. And I had never before seen it, never been exposed to it, or been “stung” by it. I just started noticing my hands start to itch…then quickly started to morph into an irritating tingle. Then…oh man…it was like I dipped my hands in flaming napalm.
I washed my hands, then washed them again…and then washed my hands again. All was in vain…it didn’t work. My hands continued to burn for hours. Actually, they still had an irritating burning sensation the next day.
Needless to say I did my research and figured out it was Stinging Nettle. And evidently I am particularly sensitive to it. Stinging Nettle is some nasty stuff…and I wanted it gone. I had to protect the lives of all living creatures on the glamstead.
Later that day my wife said she spotted a second plant of it. That sparked a mission…a mission of importance! I was going to destroy the offending near-fatal poisonous plant no matter the cost to life or limb.
The mission was clear, the outcome defined…the future of human-kind was in my hands (no pun intended).
Two days later armed with heavy leather gloves and two layers of plastic bags I identified and pulled a total of 5 plants that had disrupted the very nature of humanity in our strawberry patch. Unfortunately, there were actually 7 plants. Yeah, I found the remaining 2 quite by accident…ouch…again.
So be careful out there folks…it’s a dangerous world! Even your strawberry patch might try to kill you.
Now, in my defense…take a look at the next picture…go ahead, take a good look.
Can you spot the ‘green death‘?????
You probably didn’t see the Stinging Nettle hidden with the strawberry plants waiting to pounce and strangle the very life out of me. So let me show you where it is…
You see how death can hide even among food!
If you are interested in Stinging Nettles…
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a perennial plant covered with tiny, hollow, needle-like hairs. When those hairs contact your skin, their tips can break and release irritating chemicals into the skin. The result can be an immediate burning or stinging sensation followed by itching, tingling, redness, or raised welts.
The discomfort usually lasts anywhere from about 30 minutes to several hours, although reactions vary considerably from person to person. For most people, stinging nettle is far more irritating than dangerous.
Stinging nettles can be identified by their pointed, somewhat coarse-looking leaves, which grow opposite one another along the stem. Both the stems and leaves have the characteristic stinging hairs. In a strawberry patch, they’re fairly easy to distinguish once you know what you’re looking for—strawberries have their familiar clusters of three rounded, toothed leaflets.
Nettles particularly like moist, fertile, nitrogen-rich soil, which helps explain why they can be perfectly happy growing in a well-watered and well-fed garden bed. Once established, they can spread through both seed and underground rhizomes.
If you find them in the garden, heavy gloves, long sleeves and long pants are a good idea. Removing the plant—including as much of the root system as possible—before it goes to seed helps keep it from spreading. Weed-whacking or casually yanking them out bare-handed is an especially poor way to become personally acquainted with the plant.
Interestingly, stinging nettle isn’t simply a nasty weed. Young nettle shoots are edible after they have been properly cooked, steamed or dried, which neutralizes the sting. Nettles have traditionally been used in soups, teas, pesto and other foods and are quite nutritious.
(You can right-click the image above to download and save the informational chart.)
