Nettles cause nasty rashes that are painfully itchy, but they shouldn't be dismissed as pesky weeds, as they have many beneficial qualities

AT this time of year, most of the gardening jobs are those that involve removing plants. It is, if you like, a season of horticultural destruction. The warm, wet weather creates the perfect growing conditions for weeds and grass, which, if not tackled now, will completely take over any garden. This growth spurt usually coincides with the annual two-week holiday, which can be just long enough for the invasion to begin, so that last mow of the lawn before catching the plane could be 20 minutes well spent.

Summer gardening is a time of visual beauty but bodily pain. This week I have been pulling six foot tall nettles out from a large bed of organic soft fruit. I tried tip-toeing through the venom-loaded stems and leaves to pluck the ripe, glistening berries from their protected bushes, but the barbs seemed to bend towards my hands and arms and covered my forearms with swollen, red welts.

In retaliation I donned full wet weather gear and waded into the war zone.

This worked well, most of the time, but the odd well-aimed needle still found the weak seam or un-tucked cuff. My efforts definitely allowed sunlight to shine upon the fruit, but it also had me itching from head to toe.

The stinging nettle, though, is an inevitable part of the British countryside, and is also found around the world in wooded areas and disturbed ground. It has the Latin name urtica dioica and is part of the nettle family (urticaceae) of the genus urtica. It is a perennial that flowers between June and September.

The flowers are arranged in long catkins and are coloured green, red or white. If you look closely you will see separate male' and female' flowers.

THE leaves are covered in tiny hairs, loaded with a dose of formic acid, which, when brushed past give urticaria, or a nasty red rash which itches like mad for a while. Some nettle stings are more severe, urtica urentissima, for example, is found in Java, and can cause a rash for a whole year and might, in extreme cases, cause death. Let's hope that this is one foreign invader that doesn't cross the oceans.

If you do brush past and get stung, it is vitally important not to scratch the rash. This just exacerbates the pain and may lead to infections or scarring. The best thing to do is to apply a soothing lotion to it and have a nice, hot cup of tea.

If you have no soothing lotions on you, try washing the sting out, or use a natural remedy - the leaves from the dock plant, the mallow, or (amazingly) the juice from the nettle.

Being stung by a nettle used to be part of a countryside initiation for all children, along with biting into a sloe fruit and playing frisbee with a dried cow pat.

These adventures seem to becoming rarer and rarer, and children are getting more and more frightened of the countryside.

They seem to be missing out on the vital lessons of respect, nurture and consequences of their actions.

I had to hold my sides to stop myself bursting with hysterical laughter last week when I heard that a woman was taking another of our local countryside leisure centres to court because she suffered a sting from a nettle. I wonder what grievances she will be filing. Perhaps that she never learnt to recognise some of our basic native plants, or that the centre caters for wildlife as well as humans, or maybe that the site harbours dangerous inhabitants. Maybe we will have to think about paving over all our countryside areas, just in case someone gets stung by a bee, bitten by a mosquito, scratched by a bramble or afflicted by pollen-borne hay fever.

In their defence, nettles provide a source of food for caterpillars, some of which feed exclusively on the nettle. It is also a food source for a wide variety of insects, including ladybirds, and, according to the Garden Organic, supports up to 107 species.

The University of Plymouth has proved that the stinging nettle can have a beneficial effect on arthritis sufferers (osteoarthritis), confirming folklore dating back to Roman times, which suggested flogging with nettles (urtication) as a cure for chronic rheumatism. Nettles are alleged to be anti-inflammatory (and generally helpful with all skin conditions), antiparasitic, antiseptic, a digestive stimulant, and a menstrual promoter.

They may cure rheumatism, arthritis muscle wastage problems, inflammation and, bizarrely, head lice.

And if they fail to remove the lice, they could still stimulate hair growth.

The nettle has been used medicinally by the Greeks and later the Romans. In fact, it has been alleged to cure almost everything. Nettles act as an accelerator for compost and are a rich source of nitrogen and minerals. They're also a source of vitamins A and C. Nettle products include soup, tea, nettle pudding, porridge, beer, Yarg cheese (which is wrapped in nettles), paper, cloth dye (which is yellow, and comes from the root).

Nettles are not just the nasty bullies of our parks, gardens and countryside.

They have many positive uses. We just have to show them the respect that they have earned over centuries of co-habitation and treat them with kid gloves, or better still long-sleeved, heavy-duty leather ones.

JOBS THIS WEEK

* Keep cropping soft fruit, beans and peas as they ripen on the plant.

* Prune back early flowering shrubs and clematis, so that they have time to build up flower buds for next spring.

* Check the health of all of your indoor plants and make sure that they are not suffering from any infestations, over or under watering or fungal infections.

* Brigid presents Ask About Gardening every Sunday on BBC Radio Cleveland 95FM from 1-2pm.

Questions will be answered on the day by emailing brigidpress@bbc.co.uk anytime during the week, and texting 07786-200995 or phoning 01642-225511 during the show.