Green Manure or seaweed

jaycee · « **on:** August 01, 2006, 08:33 »

Looking into growing green manure over the winter to improve a sandy soil. (raised beach!) BUT We lose the sun for over 6 weeks during the winter and we live in a very wet area.
Would covering the bed with chopped seaweed then covering the raised bed with the black water permeable ground cover do the trick as well?

milkman · « **Reply #1 on:** August 01, 2006, 11:08 »

Sounds great to me, and if you have any nearly finished compost that could be added as well. I don't have a ready supply of seaweed here in Andover but have tried covering my beds with compost and the black ground cover stuff over winter before. It's magic in the spring - peeling back the ground cover, seeing that the worms have been at work all winter and the bed is all ready for planting with just the odd bit of bindweed to clear. The black ground cover absorbs the heat so is useful for getting the soil that bit warmer that bit earlier in the year.

Comfry_Kid · « **Reply #2 on:** August 01, 2006, 11:43 »

Jaycee

I have just been and collected 5 bags of sea weed - I have put this in a big water butt and covered it with water - within a week it has magically changes into a really smelly mix that I dilute into another butt - about 2 litres ever week. (This combined with comfrey water and horse muck water really smells - its got to be good for the soil)

jaycee · « **Reply #3 on:** August 01, 2006, 13:04 »

Quote from: "Comfry_Kid"

Jaycee

I have just been and collected 5 bags of sea weed - I have put this in a big water butt and covered it with water - within a week it has magically changes into a really smelly mix that I dilute into another butt - about 2 litres ever week. (This combined with comfrey water and horse muck water really smells - its got to be good for the soil)

Dear Comfry-Kid
I put fresh seaweed straight onto the garden.
I layer it on my compost heaps.
I add it to my "black jack" bin. I put it in a waterproof bin tightly packed and leave (last lot 2yrs). This former rots it down to slutch and the resulting liquid is thick and I use it same as SM3...but free!
One year I mulched my intense blue hydrangers with it and they turned a vivid pink . So it took me a couple of years to get them back to their original blue!

John · « **Reply #4 on:** August 01, 2006, 14:15 »

Aren't you supposed to was the salt off seaweed before you use it on the garden?

sumo · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2006, 18:09 »

I use a lot of seaweed when I can, mostly bladder wrack, but think anything will do. I never wash the salt out as it seems to work ok as it is. I expect the rains wash out the salt pretty quickly, and the soil appears to grow most things. Can get loads of the stuff, and all free!

Jake · « **Reply #6 on:** August 01, 2006, 22:33 »

Quote from: "sumo"

I use a lot of seaweed when I can, mostly bladder wrack, but think anything will do. I never wash the salt out as it seems to work ok as it is. I expect the rains wash out the salt pretty quickly, and the soil appears to grow most things. Can get loads of the stuff, and all free!

I will bow to your greater experience here but I still think it should be washed.

A build up of salt in the soil would present a sudden problem later on. I think!

sumo · « **Reply #7 on:** August 02, 2006, 11:34 »

I think I shall have to carry out a trial with fresh seaweed plonked on the soil v sludgy seeweed as Jaycee has used it. Don`t want to store up problems if there is a salt build-up. Thanks, Jake!

jaycee · « **Reply #8 on:** August 02, 2006, 18:14 »

Quote from: "sumo"

I think I shall have to carry out a trial with fresh seaweed plonked on the soil v sludgy seeweed as Jaycee has used it. Don`t want to store up problems if there is a salt build-up. Thanks, Jake!

At first I used to wash the seaweed but then I use such a lot I got fed up and used it as it was.. That was about 8 +years ago and I can honestly say I have seen no bad effects. The blue hydranger that turned pink had glorious big flowers...just the wrong colour.
The Globe Artichokes covered with a thick mulch of seaweed, grown from seed this year are are as big as any in the shops although I am resisting the temptation to harvest this first year. Runner beans and broad beans seem to be quite happy too.
Jaycee

jaycee · « **Reply #9 on:** August 02, 2006, 18:20 »

Oh forgot to mention look where I live..............we have a lot of rain here An awful lot of rain. No water shortage here!

Heather_S · « **Reply #10 on:** August 02, 2006, 19:42 »

Hang on... hydrangenas tell you what pH the soil is... I believe blue is neutral/alkaline and pink is acidic... so the seaweed must lower the pH of the soil... I wouldn't suggest adding it anywhere you want to grow brassicas since brassicas prefer more alkaline positions.
Also seaweed won't hold nutrients in like the roots of a green manure would.

edit, nevermind it's backwards, so the seaweed is making it more alkaline, good for brassicas but bad for potatoes as it encourages scab.

sumo · « **Reply #11 on:** August 03, 2006, 20:02 »

Snails have eaten through the stem of my one and only pumpkin, disaster! I am wondering if a mulch of seaweed would deter them? Anyone any ideas? Won`t use pellets or anything poisonous.

milkman · « **Reply #12 on:** August 04, 2006, 09:18 »

Where abouts are you in the north west highlands jaycee - are you anywhere near cape wrath?

jaycee · « **Reply #13 on:** August 04, 2006, 09:55 »

Quote from: "sumo"

Snails have eaten through the stem of my one and only pumpkin, disaster! I am wondering if a mulch of seaweed would deter them? Anyone any ideas? Won`t use pellets or anything poisonous.

Sorry Sumo, seaweed does NOT discourage slugs!

jaycee · « **Reply #14 on:** August 04, 2006, 09:57 »

Quote from: "milkman"

Where abouts are you in the north west highlands jaycee - are you anywhere near cape wrath?

Not that far north. Near Kyle of Lochalsh.

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Green Manure or seaweed

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