Nettle Tea and the Art of Picking Sweet Peas

In the height of summer, most plants are ticking over merrily and we’re waiting for the late summer flowers to start to show. In the meantime, the gardening team has been busy behind the scenes, making sure everything has what it needs to keep going through the drier months.

Nettle Fertiliser: A brilliant feed (and practically free)

A couple of the team here at Houghton Lodge have been making nettle fertiliser to help plants along during the drier weather. Also known as ‘nettle tea’, it’s an organic plant feed full to the brim with powerful minerals. It’s nitrogen-rich, which promotes leafy green growth, and it also contains potassium, which supports overall plant health, flowering and fruiting.

It’s a brilliant feed and practically free. 

Here’s how to make your own nettle fertiliser.

What you’ll need: heavy-duty gloves, plenty of nettles, a container with a lid (a big bin will do) and a big stick.

How to make it: Wearing your gloves, pull up nettles, including plenty of roots. You’ll need a lot to fill your container, so compact them down as you go.

If your container is strong enough, smash the nettles down with a big stick. If not, thrash them on the ground first. The idea is to break them up and create as much surface area as possible. The smaller the pieces, the quicker it all breaks down into fertiliser.

Add water to fully cover the nettles, pop the lid on, and leave for three to four weeks. You’ll know it’s ready by the smell – what’s good for the plants is not so good for our noses!

Dilute 1:10 with water and apply where needed. You can feed weekly, but be careful not to scorch plants, especially in the summer heat.

Sweet Peas: How to pick them so they keep coming

At Houghton Lodge Gardens, we are very lucky to have a sweet pea expert work with us each year. Jim starts his sweet peas early in the year, our gardeners prep the soil with plenty of rich farmyard manure, and come May, Jim plants them out. They really are a beautiful sight and smell divine!

Sweet peas are at the top of our watering list every morning. A good twenty minutes with a sprinkler to make sure we saturate the soil ahead of a long, dry day keeps these hungry plants lush and happy.

One of the many joys of sweet peas is that you need to pick them to encourage more flowers. So our self-catering Apple Rooms, the tearoom and sometimes our own homes all have these lovely flowers on display. You want to avoid the flowers going to seed pod, so remember to pick or deadhead some every day.

It’s also important to pinch out the tendrils once the plant reaches about 20cm tall, using your thumb and forefinger, because this too will create more flowers.

You’ll find our wonderful sweet pea bed in the Walled Garden, and you can spy them from The Glass House terrace too.

Wishing you a lovely summer from all the gardening team.

Cat

Undergardener

@cat.kin_