lochnesslass, you can both spray leaves and the soil with seaweed fertilizer. Both ways work, but if you've got lots of manure on hand, use that for the ground and the seaweed for the leaves. People find it hard to believe that plant leaves will absorb nutrients, but they will. And foliar feed is the fastest way to get nutrients into a plant. Soil application takes a while for it to reach the roots, be absorbed and then act.