What is the best way to use seaweed ?

[wbmkk]

Living near the coast, I would be able to collect plenty of seaweed. It regularly gets washed ashore.

What is the best way to use it .. on a new allotment ?

Should I add it to a compost heap ? if so, is there a limit to the amount I add.

Could I mix it with leaves, say in a separate compost pile ?

Do you need to wash the seaweed before doing anything with it, to remove at least some of the salt.

I am sure I once saw on the TV crofters in The Shetlands, piling their gardens high with seaweed, to help their crops to grow. It seems, this free resource is much under-used

[Mikey]

Is the area you are in clean water, if so eat it.

You can use it as a mulch, its very good for the soil.

[Aberdeenplotter]

item on seaweed on Sky 537 as I type

[Two_Sheds]

I'm also living next to the sea, so I gather as much as I can (there isn't much, these days. More plastic than anything).

I put some in my comfrey tea brew, and the rest straight on the beds as a mulch. Not chopped, just dropped

[wbmkk]

Thanks for the replies

[dim]

i'd be very weary of using seaweed without removing the salt and its a complex process to do so

I use biobizz alg-a-mic (a combination of seaweed and algae), and I use it as a foliar feed on all my plants and veg .... all salt has been removed in a laboratory

[Bigmallly]

Well you learn something new everyday, I did not know you needed permission to collect seaweed off the beach:
Seaweed products / Royal Horticultural Society

[Two_Sheds]

i'd be very weary of using seaweed without removing the salt and its a complex process to do so

"Although seaweed is salty, the salt is not usually present in sufficient amounts to damage crops or soil, and the salt will in any case leach out readily with rainfall as it is highly soluble."

RHS

[Two_Sheds]

I did not know you needed permission to collect seaweed off the beach:

I think that might be one of those antiquated laws that are outdated but have never been repealed. I couldn't find anything specifically banning you from taking washed-up seaweed off the beach, and I had this reply from my beach owner:
"The general rule is that 1 x small bucket full of sand, stones, seaweed etc can be removed for personal use only"

(but they didn't say if that was per day, per week or per visit)

"there is no common law right to pick [seaweed] (unless they are already detached)". The seaweed you find on the beach is detached, so is dead. You aren't harming it or anything else by gathering dead seaweed.
How to forage for seaweed | Life and style | The Guardian

"seaweed cast [detached] above the high water-mark belongs to the owner of the land. There is no public right to take seaweed in these circumstances" but then it goes on to say "A private individual or individuals who have been gathering seaweed from the shore for a period of time may be able to assert a legal right to do so ...where the person or persons concerned have been taking seaweed from a particular part of the shore for more than 20 years...While taking small quantities of seaweed for personal use is allowed ..." http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/seaweed...nstatement.pdf

"if you are going to sell it then you need a licence".

Read more: Seaweed is commercially harvested in England for the first time as demand soars for 'green gold' from top restaurants | Mail Online
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I take half a bread-bag of seaweed at a time, probably once a month on average. I also remove human litter, most of it drink & snack wrappings (avg 12 items per walk) from the beach (and pavements, parks & trees).