I am new to gardening and are looking for allturnative methodes to chemical fertilizers. Our yard is fully land scaped and therefore digging in seaweed is not a practical option (damaging plant roots, hitting bulbs, etc.). Does anyone have a practical way to grind seaweed or will it rot away if just mulched on the beds in the fall, by springtime? Second question, If grinding is ths answear is there anything that would be good to the mix?
Haven't used it, but have seen people filling the truck around French Creek with that popweed type in the fall. It may have already been partly rotted. Should rot by spring and smell a bit. Think they just mulched the plants. Not sure about any gov't regulations on collecting it. Locals or staff at retail nurseries would likely be good info sources , some plants may not like it.
Jamey--laid as a mulch in fall, it is pretty well rotted by spring. I've mostly used it on veggie garden that way, so it can be rototilled in easily this time of year. I can't see much advantage in grinding it up, it's not nearly as fibrous as woody plant material that needs chipping into mulch. If looks weren't important, I would mulch with it right now, pretty ugly in flower beds tho until broken down more...
Growest, Is there an odour, like low tide around the water ? And does it seem OK on all your plants? Thanks in advance.
This might help but note it is from our Australian Gardening show where they caution about sea weed removal http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s795262.htm Liz
Smell? Yes I'm sure it will be noticeable, but I really didn't think it was too bad, a couple days and it's pretty well gone. I think a very thick layer would be slow to lose it's odour, but normally I spread it thinly over a large area and the microbes have that smell under control very quickly... This from a person that doesn't like seafood coz of that same seaweedy flavour...I don't think it will be much of a problem. In the dry season it might be different, coz every watering will bring back a bit more odour, while the breakdown is slowed by the generally dry state of the seaweed. No problem out there today, tho :-) And I would think a bit about spreading more than a skiff around salt sensitive plants...rhodos, most ericaceous. On the other hand, seaside plants like arbutus are surprisingly happy with the occasional salt spray. Moderation should cover most of these points, it's hard to gather enough seaweed to do much harm in my experience...a whole pickup load is gone in no time if you have much garden to cover. I do know that you can't legally gather seaweed in a park...like Stanley park beaches. One difficulty in the Greater Vancouver, BC area is finding real seaweed, as opposed to eelgrass which is the majority of the beach wrack around the mouth of the Fraser. Only place toward the south that I've had much luck has been the south side of the Tsawassen jetty, esp. after a good storm. After having said all this, I must admit that it's been a few years since I've collected. I have recently gone to buying a big sack of kelp meal from Otter Co-op and using that in a home-made (a la Steve Solomon) organic veggie type fertilizer. Can't remember the price, but I do believe with gas prices and value of my time, the kelp meal works out pretty competitively with going and picking up raw seaweed.
