Last weekend we took a day trip to the coast to cheer ourselves up and mark the end of the February school holiday. It was a cold, windy day but we didn’t mind and enjoyed a good walk along the beach (Brean Sands, Somerset) before making a city of sandcastles that we later demolished with a game of leap-frog.
Another thing that we did was to collect several kilograms of seaweed for our vegetable garden. This is a great soil improver and fits well with our frugal gardening plans, since we simply collected it in carrier bags whilst walking along the beach. The winter weather meant that it was nice and fresh smelling for the car journey home and, with 2.5 kg of seaweed meal costing £7.45, it was certainly worthwhile taking the time to collect it. In total we took 12 carrier bags of seaweed, all of which has been applied to our front garden vegetable beds.
A range of benefits have been reported in relation to the use of seaweed in the garden. These include (1) improving the microbial activity of the soil, (2) improving the root growth of plants, and (3) making plants more resistant to diseases and pests. It is also a good organic product, which contains over 60 nutrients and hormones, and decomposes readily when applied to the soil (reportedly much quicker than vegetable waste or gardening clippings). Seaweed extract is also used to promote plant growth and is often used to soak seeds in prior to sowing. If we had any more then we would certainly be interested in experimenting with this. However, for now, we’re happy that our vegetable beds contain a good mix of fresh seaweed and copious amounts of our own garden compost, putting us in good stead for the arrival of spring.
We are off up the coast today to collect seaweed (and take dogs and children on a blowy walk). I’ve not done this for so hoping to see some positive results in the veg patch this year.
Have a great day. Both the air and the seaweed is nice and fresh this time of year
). Let’s hope we get bumper harvests