Nettle overload

After yesterday's exploits I found myself with a lot of nettles. A LOT of nettles. As in picked and slowly losing their nettley joy (although not their sting, as it turns out). Having had nettle soup, nettles with pasta, nettles in my Sunday morning fry up, made some veg stock with nettles and started preparing the nettle-plant-food-concoction I decided I may be overdoing it on the nettles.

The big sign was that I was sick of the smell of them. Not a good sign for food which is supposed to be scrumptious and brilliant.

So the remainder of yesterday's "crop" (which was particularly prolific as I was clearing a whole chunk of nettles that were in my way - along with goose grass and some dandelions - rather than just picking some to munch on) has not been torn apart and put in the nettle-plant-food-concoction and banished outside. Apparently I'm looking at a 3-4 week festering period before my plant food will be ready for use (with a peg on my nose, by all accounts) but for now I'm having at least 24 hours sans nettles.

Nettles, I love you. You're my newest addition to the joys of my ingredients cupboard. And you live outside in my yard so are easily accessible next time the urge takes me. But for now, you just keep on growing...

What's been particularly fascinating is I'm now obsessive about using my mildly-grey water (been used for washing up but little else). I haven't got a collecting bucket yet as I'm fairly certain I've got a spare in Morecambe so I've been using my blender jug to ferry it out to my little raised bed in the yard but I'm now getting shocked by just how much water is used, even on my relatively water-friendly washing up. As well as getting excited about mulching possibilities for said little raised bed. This is so exciting!

The pot-garden on my living room window is also doing well: the first coriander shoot is up, the spinach is going good guns, the parsley which has somehow just about survived many moons is showing a bit more life and the sandy-pots are just ruminating as to whether they have enough joy to grow little plants or not. Yay growing stuff :)