Seaweed

[Muddy Sarah]

I think I've been missing a trick, seeing as I live right by the sea, and all.

I know seaweed is good for growing things and making mulch/compost, but is there any particular type that's best? Or can I use the common-or-garden stuff I can get from the beach??

Cheers

Sarah

[rhubarbontoast]

Results are pending for my garden. I gathered many sackfuls and composted some and left the rest on top of the soil over the Autumn/Winter. So far it looks good, the soil certainly smells fertile and the compost too- very fragrant. I haven't tried growing in it yet but hopes are high.

I just gathered whatever had washed up- all fresh stuff from a slipway. Mostly kelp- even the thick stems have rotted down.

[Geordie]

I use seaweed a lot on my plot, over winter you can just lay it on top of soil. During summer try and give it a hose down just to stop build up of salt. It is an excellent tonic for tomatoes and peppers (just lay at foot of plant), makes an superb liquid feed.

One word of caution....seaweed can and sometimes does contain weed seed which will happliy take root in your garden!. Composting will help with this but seaweed does tend to rot down to almost nothing so its horses for courses. Any type of seaweed will be of benefit and if all else fails its a snack to go with your coffee.

[madderbat]

Hi Muddy Sarah
I'm in a time warp - though I posted to you at lunchtime, but must have done something wrong!! Try again.

I guess you've seen the other chat about this : http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ead.php?t=4463

Concensus is that anything above low water mark which is not living is fair game. AS far as variety goes, I seem to remember from my youth that the dark green and brown varieties are like greens on land for nutrients, don't know about the pink stuff though - you could experiment.
It all smells the same when it rots!