| Seaweed is one of those garden additives that | | | | garden. |
| people either swear by or fear. Seaweed has by | | | | - Chooks love to scratch around in seaweed. Placing |
| default a large quantity of sodium in it. Plants do not | | | | seaweed on the ground and let the chooks scratch it |
| need sodium for growth and if they did, ground | | | | over the winter months. This is an excellent way of |
| sodium at minute levels is ample. | | | | eliminating weeds and adding extra nitrogen to the |
| Many Organic gardeners use seaweed regularly. | | | | soil that the seaweed will deplete. |
| Seaweed can take a long time to breakdown | | | | - Despite the high levels of sodium, seaweed is |
| especially when added as mulch. The longer it takes | | | | naturally high in other minerals that are beneficial to |
| to breakdown the more nitrogen it is depleting from | | | | the soil and plants. |
| the soil. | | | | Seaweed used in the garden is not the same as the |
| 5 ways you can beat the salt and use seaweed in | | | | kelp often associated with seaweed/s. The seaweed |
| your home organic garden: | | | | used in the garden is more like a sea grass. |
| - Store seaweed in a wire cage with no bottom. | | | | Something for you to try: I have had a lot of |
| Leave the cage in an area that will not be effected | | | | success growing organic potatoes under a mixture of |
| by high salt levels. Let the natural elements wash and | | | | seaweed and old grass hay. Lay potato tubers on |
| blow the salt from the seaweed and give it a regular | | | | top of the ground place loose hay around 12 inches |
| wash through with fresh water. | | | | thick. Add seaweed over the hay to another 12 |
| - Shred seaweed and mix with equal amounts of | | | | inches thick. The seaweed will help prevent light from |
| fresh green lawn clippings. Use this mixture at a rate | | | | getting in to the tubers preventing them from going |
| of no more than a third of total mix, in compost that | | | | green. The seaweed will begin to decay as the |
| includes chicken manure and hay or straw. | | | | potatoes grow. This hay and seaweed mix can be |
| - Once the seaweed is well weathered and washed | | | | added to the compost heap or used as a mulch |
| (a month during a wet winter would be sufficient) it | | | | around beetroot, spinach, silverbeet or other beet |
| can be dug into garden beds in preparation for spring | | | | crops. It will gradually break down and add more |
| planting. Using a trench composting method is ideal. | | | | nutrients to the soil. |
| Shredding is not necessary when digging into the | | | | |