If you live near the sea here are a few tips on utilising a valuable free resource for your garden. Seaweed is almost good as farmyard manure, although it is lower in phosphates but richer in potash. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals
The best time to collect seaweed for use in the garden is right after a storm as the newly washed up seaweed has less salt in it than weed which has been lurking in a harbour for weeks. If it smells clean and fresh use it, if it pongs walk away. Only collect loose seaweed do not pull it off of rocks, by doing so you will be making numerous sea creatures homeless and damaging the eco system. Give it a quick swish in the sea and a shake to remove any residents. It is best to wash the seaweed with fresh water or leave in the rain for a couple of days to get more of the salt out, worms don’t like it and it kills them if strong enough, same principle as putting salt on slugs. Photo: Max Blinkhorn
Make your own Liquid Seaweed Feed
A well known brand of liquid seaweed extract or growth stimulant costs about £7 per litre, you could make your own for free. Get a 10 gallon plastic drum/container, half fill it with seaweed, top up the container with water and let it stand for 3 months, that is the optimum time, I do know people who have used it after a few weeks. Strain off the liquid and add about a cupful to 2 gallons of water, do not be tempted to make it any stronger or you could burn the roots of your plants. Think I might stitch up an old net curtain to make a bag and put the seaweed in that so I don’t have to strain it, then I can put the used seaweed residue on the compost heap. It is quicker and decomposes better if you chop the seaweed up first. You can of course make it in smaller amounts, just use any suitable container for the space you have available.
Compost it
Seaweed is an excellent compost activator, so adding it to you compost heap will add nutrients and more organic matter to your compost.
You can also use a 4″ – 6″ layer of seaweed as a mulch for shrubs and roses, although you might get a few complaints from near neighbours as it starts to rot down.
Seaweed improves the structure of clay soils, think it is the alginates in the seaweed helps break it up so it does not clump so much.
With your “if it pongs, walk away” comment in mind, does it mean that a lot of the seaweed being collected from the Haven won’t be usable as fertiliser?
Hi Simon
The seaweed that is decomposing in the Haven would be fine for commercial composting, ie mixed in with the garden waste at Lynbottom and composted at a very high temperature.
The Haven has the same problem as East Cowes where the seaweed gets trapped behind the breakwater, I know of several dogs there that have caught gastroenteritis from playing around in the rotting seaweed. Commercial composting would destroy any bacteria due the the very high heat generated during the composting process. Garden composting would not generate enough heat, which is why I personally would never use the seaweed trapped in the Haven on my garden especially taking the salt into consideration too.
Where the seaweed in the Haven has been there a long time it is starting to break down and it absorbs salt at the same time, trying to wash salt out of those tiny bits of seaweed would be almost impossible.
Angie
[...] Angie from the Ventnor Permaculture Group also has a great article about using seaweed in the garden [...]
Hi,
I’m very ken to try the seaweed route as I have loads of slugs in my garden and the little buggers have scoffed all of my peas and beans!
Not sure how good it is for keeping slugs and snails away from plants. If the seaweed is dry and crispy it might. If you don’t wash it the salt could harm the plants.
If it does work let us know.
Angie
A possible solution for you slug and snail problem is taking crushed up eggshells andworking them into the soil. The creatures supposedly stay clear of them for fear of cutting themselves on the sharp shells.
Tracy
Thanks Tracy, I will dry and crush a few eggshells and try sprinkling them around plants instead of adding to the compost heap. Will report back on how well it works.
Thanks
Angie
Great article, thanks for the info and reminding folk not to go taking the weed that is on the rocks.
Angie: Did the egg shells work??
Z
Hi Zac
Have not had a chance to try the eggshells yet. As I only eat about one egg per month it could take me a while to get enough for a decent trial!
Angie
Tracy, Do you think crushed eggshells work? Only asking b/c….what’s the intelligence of a slug? How would a snail know that there’s danger afoot? Not being fresh, only now my perception of the world has changed dramatically. Do you think the cat next door respects me? (kidding, I kid)
Hi Chris
Must admit I have wondered what slugs do when they encounter eggshells – do they turn round and go back or keep going as they have to start going across the eggshells to know they don’t feel good. Anyone know?
Still have not tried it yet as we don’t eat enough eggs to get a good amount to use as yet.
Angie