I went out ginsenging the other day...just scouting since it's not in season ...but I found the biggest and largest patch of nettles I have EVER seen and iv seen a lot of them in my days....they were already up to my waist and higher ...I have been wondering about using them in my compost pile as a green input ...should I use the leaves or the whole prickley things .....and what benefits do they add again...I need to get some green in my pile asap...and should I use the roots and all...I hope it's the same thing ever one talks about when they say nettles ...these fuckers will burn u up and make u itch lIke fucking crazy ...hurt like a bitch after a while day of walking through them
....and can I dry them out and make teas from them w.o fermenting them or anything
A photo would help........but.........the whole plant is irritating as fuck if you touch it with bare skin, immediately, non of this 'after a while walking through it', you don't walk through it, you avoid it as soon as you see it. I share a sort of allotment and when I first went on, I cut all the nettles down to throw on the compost, but the guy I share it with went mad, cos it does keep mindless vandals out, or deters them at least.
Not the clearest photo, but these are defo stinging nettles, I took the snap last week