Beware The Stinging Nettle!

I have always always been a backyard flower gardener who does not believe in using gardening gloves. After those brutal Vermont winters, I couldn't wait to get my hands in the crumbley black dirt, breaking up the clumpy bits and picking out the tiny green weeds. I like to think I can tell the health of the soil by the feel of it and even the smell of it.

Florida soil is sandy, of course, and dry, and I am amending my yard beds like mad trying to make the dirt feel right. But now I have been beaten by the Stinging Nettle. I accidently grabbed at this green weedy thing while cleaning out underneath my rose bushes and GEEZ-LOO-EEZ it felt like a thousand tiny barbs were stinging the tips of my fingers. It's twelve hours later and still my fingers are numb and tingling. Very unpleasant.

So, I gotta go get some good gloves, I guess. I'm sure that's the smart thing to do because what if, next, I accidently disturb a Pygmy Rattler entwined in one of my flower pots? PYGMY RATTLERS, people!! That happens here in Florida. Just one more proof to my theory that the further south you go in the world, the more venomous, poisonous, stinging creatures there are to kill and maim us. I'm NEVER going to Australia. --cds