
Herbs · Perennial
Stinging nettle
Urticaceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 40 cm
- USDA zones
- 3a–10a
- Frost-sensitive
- no
- Growth duration
- 8 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- partial shadeAlso okay:full sunshade
- Soil (prefers)
- loamyAlso okay:clayraised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- normal
Seed & start
Perennial
Plant once, returns every year.
Stachi's tip
Stinging nettle is the most underrated plant of all: protein-rich (cook young shoots like spinach), nettle-tea fertiliser is the best organic feed, food source for butterfly caterpillars. I leave a wild corner for wildlife — gloves on when picking, no exceptions.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
No fixed companion partners — easy to mix.
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Avoid these neighbours
No known conflicts.
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
Sources
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-27 Phase 7 expansion
- Bio-Gärtner – Brennnesseln [Urtica] (https://www.bio-gaertner.de/pflanzen/Brennnesseln)
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Spacing
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Companion planting
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Crop rotation
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: LLM-Baseline-2026-05-27 Phase 7 expansion · Bio-Gärtner – Brennnesseln [Urtica] (https://www.bio-gaertner.de/pflanzen/Brennnesseln)
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.