Stinging Nettle - Herbal Ally of Spring
There are few plants that feel more like a homecoming to me than nettle. She arrives with the sting of vitality, waking us up from winter’s quiet. As the sap rises in the trees, nettle rises in the soil, and in us too.
Spring on the land is a quickening - one day everything is brown and asleep. The next - lush, green, and vibrant. Nettle is one of first visitors during this time.
In The Garden
Nettle often shows up uninvited, and we let it stay. It loves rich, damp soils and thrives near compost piles, hedgerows, and forgotten corners of the garden. We grow it on purpose here—tucked in a shady bed behind the greenhouse where it gets morning sun.
When we aren’t harvesting the young tops for teas and tinctures, and all other sorts of kitchen witchery, We allow some to grow beyond what we can consume to utilize as mulch and create a foliar spray for our trees and shrubs. Now, I do not recommend growing nettles inside your garden space. It can get out of hand very quickly. But as long as you are working with the entire patch, you will not need to worry about it overtaking your life.
Harvesting
Early spring is best, before it flowers. I don’t usually wear gloves - only when cutting back the mature plants, but if you are more sensitive to the sting, gloves are recommended. I cut back the top 4-6 inches in the early spring. They are the most tender and more potent. Some we dry right away, others go straight into the pot. Later in the season, we may gather seeds for adrenal and nervous system support or even dig the root in fall. **Digging the root helps prevent spreading as well.
To dry, we bundle loosely and hang in a dry spot out of direct light. Or we use this wooden screened drying rack that my husband has restored. Crumble and store in jars for use all year.
Nourishment
Nourishing Herbal Infusion
• 1 cup dried nettle
• 1 quart cold filtered water
• Steep overnight, strain in the morning
• Drink throughout the day.
The result is dark and mineral-rich—almost brothy. We drink it chilled with lemon, warm with honey, or stirred into soups and broths.
Nettle pesto, nettle fritters, and nettle tea with lemon balm and cleavers have all graced our table this time of year.
A Spring Tonic
After winter’s slow pace and heavy foods, nettle helps us reawaken. It supports the kidneys and lymph, brings energy to tired bodies, and helps ease the season’s allergy burdens.
Pair it with cleavers to move lymph, chickweed to cool and soothe, or violet for gentle detox and grief-tending. It’s bold, but when paired with gentler cohorts, its strength becomes nourishment.
For a nutritive powerhouse, add dried spring greens to apple cider vinegar. My usual suspects are nettles, violet leaf, chickweed, yellow dock shoots, purple dead nettle, and creepy charlie (ground ivy). Allow to steep for 4 weeks and strain. Add honey and shake! Drink 1 tbsp or so a day for a ‘multi-vitamin’.
Nettle as a Companion
Beyond its physical gifts, nettle teaches healthy boundaries and vitality. It asks you to meet it carefully, but once you do, it gives generously. Drinking nettle feels like coming home to your body—especially after a long winter.
My spring ritual includes a warm cup of nettle infusion on the porch, listening to the birds return, feet on the earth, remembering how to bloom.
If you’d like to dig deeper into the seasonal rhythms of herbs (like Stinging Nettles!), I’d love to welcome you over on Patreon. That’s where I share exclusive herbal lessons, printables, and behind-the-scenes peeks into life with the plants.
