Getting rid of nettles

[NettleNightmare]

Hello Greenfingered mumsnetters I am hoping for some advice on my garden.

I have just moved into a house and the garden is overgrown with nettles. The nettle area isn't huge around 30m2 and my plan is this

cut back nettles with strimmer
hire rotavator to turn it all and destroy the roots
lay lawn turf

will this work and nettles not return? anything I am missing or an easier way?

Many Thanks in advance :)

I think the rotovater will distribute the weeds more. I’d spray them

AFAIK you have to pull them up by the roots to get rid for good and keep doing this every year. Nettles put out runners and pop up a bit further away from the original plant too. We had a lot when we moved into our house, last year I pulled them all up relentlessly and this year they are far fewer. Probably take a couple more years of doing this to really lessen them coming back but they'll never be totally gone.

I don't they'd survive in a regularly mowed lawn.

You need to dig the roots out just before winter, they are easy to spot as they are quite yellow, they are often in clumps and quite deep.
As someone above said mowing will also help prevent any new growth.

Rotavating won’t work as they can regrow from bits of root.

Dig over the area and pull out all the roots you can find, to about 30cm deep. They’re quite tough which means you can get a good length of root in one go. Mowing should deal with Ny regrowth.

But they are very good for butterflies I think. I let some stay

I dont mind them. Good food for caterpillars. In the spring use them.in nettle soup and pesto. Also make a nice tea and a good hair tonic

Don't use a rotavator. You'll cut the roots into lots of little pieces which will sprout beautifully in the newly turned soil.

Wait until the frost kills the leafy stems and then don some thick gloves and dig out the roots. They are dark yellow and relatively easy to spot. I've only ever found one weed killer that gets rid of them effectively and it's not available any more.

You need to dig nettles out, although, you could try cutting them right down and then covering with a strong membrane to smother the roots, although if they set out runners this won't work.

My preferred method with nettles is to pull them up by hand - you get more satisfying roots and it's free and more environmentally friendly!

I think if you pack the cut nettles in a bucket, put in enough of water to cover and leave to brew, in a few weeks you can strain the liquid to use as a plant food, although it has to be diluted.

Thank you all for your advice. Rotavator idea out of the window. Will buy some thick gloves and get digging.

Don't really want to leave them as I have two small children who want to use the garden. Someone mentioned butterflies and we do have loads of them and lady birds too which are nice. I will leave the small patch behide the conservatory for the wildlife to enjoy :)

After digging them out should I put lawn turf down or just grass seed?

Also can I do this asap or do I have to wait for the frost? The kids are desperate to run around and are limited to the patio at the moment.

Thanks all again

It's literally the most satisfying job! Thick gloves and cover arms/legs. Grab hold and yank, they will come out by the roots.

They only regrow if f you've left any roots in Keep going and the regrowth will be massively reduced.

There are about half a dozen butterflies whose caterpillars feed on nettles. But nettles are one of the fastest increasing plans in the wild, so no great necessity to have them in one’s garden as well. And butterflies won’t lay eggs on nettles in the shade.

In case anyone was wondering, nettle roots don’t sting.

After you lay the lawn, you can use SBK brush killer (Triclopyr) on any remaining bits of root that start to grow back. It won't damage the grass and it doesn't persist in the soil. Keep your pets and kids off until its dry.

https://dnr.wi.gov/lakes/plants/factsheets/triclopyrfactsheet.pdf

Ime nettles are quite shallow rooted (though of course eventually some roots break and the rest is left) so I would cover up arms and get started. I think the new lawn might depend where you are in the country. I'm in Scotland and don't think I'd lay turf now as it might not get established before winter.

If you are really good and cut them back repeatedly as soon as new leaves appear they give up