Vegetable and fruit plants need not only good care, but also top dressing. And the gardeners in the system go to the store for chemicals. Do they know that the best remedies are underfoot? For example, the ubiquitous nettle as a fertilizer surpasses all synthetic analogues. You only need to know how to use it correctly.
Valuable properties of nettle
As a source of vitamins (C, K, A), trace elements and valuable organic acids (iron, copper, potassium, nitrogen, manganese, etc.), this indestructible weed is widely used in home cosmetology, as well as in cooking, as additives to spring salads and green borscht and soups. For feeding vegetable and ornamental plants, nettle as a fertilizer is especially valuable because of the high content of potassium and nitrogen. Moreover, it is equally useful for nutrition, and to protect plantings from pests and diseases. Experienced gardeners always stockpile nettle infusion for the future . How fertilizer is prepared and applied - more on that below. At first it will be useful to learn how to use fresh nettles on the site.
Burning Protector
Her character, of course, is burning, which scares many away from her. And is it possible to use precisely this property of her for good? For example, change your attitude towards the weed and leave it a strip along the perimeter of the site like a hedge? Uninvited guests will be easier to overcome the prickly fence than such an obstacle. Well, if such an extravagant method is not suitable, you can mow the nettles and spread it under vegetable plants - tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes. Firstly, it is a mulch that prevents the weeds from growing. Secondly, it scares away pests - leaf-eating insects, slugs. Decaying, nettle as a fertilizer nourishes plants. Many gardeners successfully practice mulching with chopped nettles, enriching the soil and protecting it from erosion.
How to make nettle fertilizer
The process is very simple. Fresh or slightly withered grass to reduce biting should be chopped or cut, put in a bucket or barrel (it is advisable to use plastic containers rather than metal ones) and pour over settled or rain water. All this will roam for ten to fourteen days. The smell, I must say, is not pleasant, because you need to determine the right place for preparing fertilizer. The resulting infusion can fearlessly water all plants, except for beans, onions and garlic - for some reason, they do not like nettle as a fertilizer. But all other vegetable crops, and even flowers, both garden and indoor, gratefully accept such dressing. Fertilizer works very well on berry bushes - currants, blackberries, raspberries. You can water the nettle infusion of strawberries. After such a recharge, the plants literally come to life, their leaves become shiny and saturated green, and the growth and ripening of fruits are accelerated.
One more way to prepare nettle fertilizer will be useful to find out. Grass and stems can be burned and valuable ash can be obtained that is several times higher than wood in terms of nitrogen and potassium. Here is such a valuable plant - stinging nettle weed.