Hi! Christiane. In the natural order of things, in countries like Oz, nettles grow on land, over manured by sheep, cows, horses etc, not native animals. They tend to grow around sheep yards and the drains of milking sheds etc. They are deep rooted and bring useful minerals from the lower levels and make good compost, both liquid and in the normal heap.
There are a number of nettles and one in particular is grown for herbal use, with seed available from specialists seed lists. Prepare the bed with lots of well rotted cow/ sheep/ horse manure/ compost and harvest before seed set or you may have more than you want. Normally allowed to flower, but picked before seed is viable. Very useful as a herbal tea. If only a small quantity required, the wild one will do. I England I saw a very large one, five or six feet high and taking over lightly grazed paddocks. I suggested that they could make good money drying it if the market would take it, but they did not seem to use it over there. Gil
