Besides the summer wasps, there's only one downside to all of this greenery.. which is the quantity (and quality!) of stinging nettles. They're everywhere this year. Stoop to pick a handful of wild flowers and you'd best be careful, or you'll have a stinging, itchy palm for the rest of the day. Not my favourite plants.
Our French neighbours don't, however, see nettles as the adversary I do. For locals of the Alps, nettles are not only a widely respected health food for use in soups and salads (I'm imagining a horrendously burning tongue/throat sensation), but can also be used to make tea and used as an an organic pesticide and fertiliser. No wonder they're happy to see them growing rampant in the backyard! I've even been told they have pain relieving properties (must look into this, as in my experience they've only caused it!).
Natural curiousity and a little bit of research led me to this brilliant article in the Guardian's gardening section, where I discovered that nettles can also be used to make beer and that they actually improve the quality of the soil in your garden. Who knew such an unattractive plant had so many practical uses?
I'm slowly working up the courage to make a nettle soup, as the locals claim it has incredible health benefits. An old arthritis remedy apparently involves flogging arthritic limbs with a bunch of mature nettles. Sounds like fun. Apparently the needle-like hairs inject histamine, acetycholine, serotonin and formic acid when touched. This creates a temporary irritation which lessens and can even temporarily eliminate arthritic pain (or maybe it just hurts so much you forget about your arthritis for a while?..).
More research is required to convince me, as I'm still imaginging nettle soup would be like a burning mouthful of tiny needles. Maybe I'll wait until my mouth becomes arthritic, then try it... stay tuned.
