stinging nettles

'For good' is always problematical Shazie. You will always get the odd one creeping in the seed is often brought 'internally' by birds, or just on the wind.

But if you have a lot of it that you want to control there are 3 main methods.

If you are in a real rush then dig it out.

If you are in quite a rush and are not organic then use a systemic weedkiller. May need a couple of applications a couple of weeks apart.

If you are not in a rush and want the cleanest and easiest way then whenever it rears its head just cut it off. Eventually nettles just give up the fight and 'go home'. Not a lot of people know that.

John.

Hi, unfortunately you have to get all the root up and these can travel a long way under the soil and any broken bits will shoot again, so unless you want to use weed killer its a matter of keep digging.

If it takes you a while to get them all out, then make sure that you chop off the seedheads of the ones that are still there, or else ....more nettles all over the garden!

If you take them out or off manually, I forgot to add, throw them in a tub covered with water and let them stand for a few weeks. The liquid then makes a good liquid fertiliser.

John.

Might I please ask - in the name of butterflies - to leave somewhere a small bunch growing??? Because they are the food for the Peacock Butterfly larvae.
Have a look at a pic on http://www.flickr.com/photos/7181801@N02/2936988413/ and read up about them on BBC Sience and Nature http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/404.shtml

Butterfly are "specialized" feeders - without their food plants no more butterflies.

I have found that a good control is to pull the flowering stems right out they usually come out with runnners attached, it is very rewarding to do this. and once the big stems are removed then weedkiller (Roundup) kills the younger shoots.
Every year I leave a 'Nettlebed' , but it is usually ignored by the Buterflies.
However I also keep several Frangula alnus (BERRY BEARING ALDER) shrubs which are the food plant of the lovely BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY who do make good use of them.

I find the best way is as some of the others have said just dig them out then keep removing them as they appear, but then i guess that would depend on how large the area is that you have them. i had about 2 meters square covered in them along with brambles, hawthorne and other nastys when i moved here two years ago, i just dug the hole lot out early spring when they started to appear and just kept pulling out any new ones before they flower and they come up less and less now.