nettles? citrus herbs?

[Madrid]

Okay, I really started asking way early about ramps, chervil, etc. back in those days in March when it was so warm.

But it is May now, with "regular" Boston May weather. I know it's still too early, but I just read the David Tanis NYTimes article posted online today about nettles.

I think I've seen nettles here exactly twice, and both times at the Siena Farms stand in Copley.

I'd really love to try these sting - y greens, as I love greens of all kinds.

Have you ever seen harvested nettles for purchase and if so where and when? I know they are essentially a weed, but have you ever seen them for sale as plants?

Also, I love lemon, lime basil, thyme, etc. I called Russo's and they said they'll have all the basil varieties "in May." Looked at some web sites like the obvious herb lyceum and didn't see anything specified. I'll keep calling now that it's May, but if anyone spots such plants, please let me know.

thanks.

[mwk]

We received a large bag of nettles in our first CSA box of the season, from Brookwood Community Farm. I had never eaten them before, so I was interested to try them. I have to say that unfortunately, I hated them. I like just about everything, but these tasted like I had crawled onto my front lawn and started grazing like a cow. Not pleasant at all. Oh well. I think Brookwood does sell at some local farmer's markets, so maybe you can find some there.

[Madrid]

thank you! i"m sorry you didn't like them though your image of grazing like a cow in your front yard gave me a big smile when I really needed one! I see from their web site they sell at Milton and Roslindale farmers markets. I'll email and ask when/if they will be selling nettles If I find some and don't like them, my son will really like having me pretend to graze.

My DH visited an American friend in Munich and she served what he called "a delicious salad of clover." It was mache, and I'm looking for that, too.

We found potted lemon basil at Russo's this morning. I'm still looking for lime basil and others!

[Karl S]

Thyme should be planted now. Basil should wait; it wants warm nights (over 60F), like many other garden favorites. I don't care how warm it's gotten in the past six weeks; all you need is a week or two of cool, damp weather with lots of mist and fog and night temps in the 40s (the kind of weather than makes fungal diseases spread like blight, as in May-June 2009 and 2011) to have to not only junk the plants but the soil they are in.

What matters is not daytime temps, but nighttime temps.

Nettles are perennial weeds, so I would not plant them (unless I had a segregated area of wasted space that no one walks through, because they do sting skin on contact; while it's not poison ivy, it's still not pleasant) but only buy them harvested freshly.

[Aromatherapy]

You can buy nettle seeds but please don't, unless you want to infuriate all your neighbors. I haven't seen them for sale but haven't looked especially. If you do manage to find them you will enjoy them. I think a forager could do well at the right farmer's market. I have found them by accident (ouch!) but to me they look just like another, extremely common weed. What Karl said about the tender herbs. Parsley and cilantro can go in now (I have self-seeded cilantro that's going to seed already. I've found it amazingly hardy.)

[Madrid]

thanks, Karl. I was trying to explain this to the .... oh, let's just say the male adult in my household....and that there was a reason reputable stores were telling folks not to plant basil yet. He was so sure however and so six purple basil and six "regular" went into the earth three weeks ago. Nothing left of the purple now and it's good to know about the possibility of fungus in the soil.

I've always heard that the general rule of thumb here is wait until Mother's Day to plant outside.

Do you know where nettles can be bought?

[Karl S]

No, because it can be an invasive weed, so I believe it's illegal for garden centers and nurseries to sell the plants. (Seeds can't be embargoed so easily in interstate commerce, but I emphatically discourage anyone from planting it - I don't care how good it tastes; cooking nettles is a good excuse to manage the weed where it already is, but not to plant it where it does not already exist).

If your basil got downy mildew*, the mildew is also almost certainly in the soil they were in, so do NOT replant basil in that location this year unless you haul away the soil, et cet. (just covering it or digging it in is not good enough), because it's just waiting for more damp weather to assault the successor basil plants. Personally, I prefer to grow basil in deep pots (it needs at least 6" of root depth space, preferably some more) in an area with full sun and good air circulation away from any other plants that are susceptible to mildew and other fungal diseases.

* http://www.greenhouse.cornell.edu/pes...

[Madrid]

thanks again Karl will pass this along to the adult male in the household and with any luck we can avoid the mildew and I'll go for the deep pots (or at least make a strong rec for them!).

about buying nettles, I didn't mean seeds or plants, but buying the harvested sting - y leaves themselves. I lust after Paula Wolfert's recipes and those of others and hope to find some for purchase at less than Siena Farms was selling them for the two times I saw them. I grew up in the south with kudzu so I do heed the warnings from you and others. I also grew up with wild what-we-called sour grass which I now recognize and love as sorrel.

[femmevox]

I know Eva Sommaripa used to grow these at her farm at South Dartmouth.
I have no idea if she still does, or if she sells them commercially anywhere (she's mostly sells herbs to high end restaurants at this point.)

[Madrid]

thanks! I know about Eva and wish I could buy her products! I know there is a recent cookbook with recipes from her "wild" wonderful plants. Does anyone know how to buy them or find them?