Wouldn't the salt in the seaweed be problematic in a garden?

You could rinse the seaweed pretty easily.

I've used it rinsed & unrinsed - if you're collecting after a storm, then the rain will have rinsed it somewhat already.

FWIW, what we get here is not technically seaweed, but mostly eelgrass w/ a bit of algae thrown in.

What were your results, Carol? Always wondered about that as a soil amendment.

TIA,

Veronica

I've mainly mulched w/ it - doesn't hurt (tho you might come across the occasional cigarette butt or plastic doodad) & seems to add to the soil tilth. Eelgrass takes a long time to break down.

Boy, that's a good word: "tilth"! I had to look that one up!

According to Wikipedia, "Good tilth is a term referring to soil that has the proper structure and nutrients to grow healthy crops."

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Tilth - Wikipedia

Like Carolb said, it can be rinsed if anyone is concerned. My compost pile is an assortment of cut leaves, coffee grounds, and the occasional weed. It breaks down, but it also gets infested with carpenter ants.

Before I bother using any Beach wrack (eelgrass or otherwise) in my beds, I thought I'd pile a couple of bags worth into my compost pile. It should both help add substance to the pile, and maybe with a semi-concentrated collection, the salt could scare off or kill some of those ants. If not, maybe they'll help break it down.

One of the true benefits of various seaweeds and grasses is their sponge-like nature. They absorb a lot of micronutrients you wouldn't easily replenish naturally in the garden. Instead of trying to pick up enough fertilizer with all the minors in it, a little beach wrack here and there should do just fine.

Bagged leaves are getting harder and harder to find as Spring marches on. Haven't seen any tree/limb mulchers driving around here yet, so I can't flag them down and offer them the yard as a dump site. In the meantime, it's worth the $1.60 in gas to collect some of the ocean's detritus.

Not to be outdone, Mike comes along with "detritus". I had to look that one up, too.

Per Wikipedia, "Detritus is non-living particulate organic material...It typically includes the bodies or fragments of dead organisms as well as fecal material. Detritus is typically colonized by communities of microorganisms which act to decompose (or remineralize) the material."

Lots of smart people on this forum. {{gwi:387657}}

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Detritius - Wikipedia

For you fishermen out there, dead fish are great for compost....another source is tree-service firms, the ones that cut down the trees and then chop them up, with a chipper, they are always looking for a free place to dump all that mulch, I've had two huge piles of beautiful rich mulch dumped in my drive-way...FREE--- the first was a clean pine and the next was a clean oak...all I did was ask, I called the tree-services that have a chipper and they usually have to pay to dump their load so are glad to bring it to you for free....and free is good...... if you mow your grass use a catcher and all that grass-clippings make good compost....rake up your tree droppings.... here in Pinellas there are lots of stables and they give away the horse manure, lots of stables out in Pinellas Park have to get rid of that stuff and it's FREE.... and free is good.....sally

Carol, you crack me up.

Sally, you're absolutely right, both are free and quite valuable, with a few caveats.

Depending on the stables, you might have a choice between "hot" manure and composted manure. The composted manure is ready-to-go and safe to dump anywhere you please. The "hot" manure on the other hand, can easily kill a lot of plants.

I've seen folk who could fill 5x5x5 compost pile every week (with greens, not the other stuff). When you're producing that much green waste, hot manure is an amazing catalyst and should have your pile smoking in no time (totally unintended imagery, my apologies!).

I've only seen two or three people posting about manures on Craigslist. One of them can haul about 2700 lbs of composted manure to you for 30-50 bucks. That's a pretty great deal for little to no effort on your part. Another post i saw offered 2-3 60lb bags a day, and they were looking for some reliable takers. Don't know if it was composted or not. I'd love it all, but I don't have enough real estate prepped for soil conditioning with hot manure. Basically, my beds are either all in use, or nowhere near ready to be on standby.

For every tool or device I long for in my garden, none of them compare to the use I could get out of a big 'ol truck. I'd do all my planting with a spoon for the rest of my life if it meant I could haul 4 yards of... well, anything, whenever I wanted it.

Mike

I know what you mean about the truck. The perma-culturists are playing with the concept of community-owned equipment such as that. So my second best choice would be... say... for 5% of the cost of storage, repairs and insurance for that big dump truck, nineteen other gardens and I could reserve it when needed it.

And it could also be rented out to non-owners at times to also keep costs down.

This thread may be straying a bit, but is an interesting conversation!

FWIW, I stopped picking up curbside leaves after a terrible infestation of spider mites, which I was certain hitchhiked into my garden on those leaves.

I much prefer beach wrack, since the chance of garden pests in it is practically nil.

Mike, you have some good ideas....

Carolb, I agree about the thread being interesting and straying a bit, I hope that Mike doesn't mind.:) I am very careful about bugs in my small garden too, I usually keep on eye on anything that I bring home since I had the bad experience when my garden was new and I put some very infested mushroom compost, it took me a long time to clean up the bugs.

Veronica, What a good idea about the equipment! I hope that everything works well for the people involved and let us know how is developing.

Sally, I have to tell you that the last time that was in Tampa with Tom, he took me to see your beautiful garden and I saw from the car, gorgeous! We were going to stop by but because we were not announced we didn't. Next time when I am in Tampa, I will ask Tom again and maybe we can stop to see you and meet the wonderful gardener that you are. And I agree with you free is good, that is what they use at the community gardens and they do well.

Carol (love the yard) We need you in the forum like the cheerleader! you do come up with very interesting comments.:)

Silvia

I'm a firm believer in evolution, be it biological or topical. Let the discussion change as it will =)

Carolb,

I totally appreciate concerns for what may or may not be in those curb-side bags of leaves someone might pick up. So far for me, the benefits have far outweighed the negatives. I've got snakes, frogs, ladybugs and more dominating my tropicals bed. I'd prefer some hitchhikers in the leaves over the constant weeds and endless watering that would be required without the cover. Heck, just the appearance of worms in my soil is worth a few minor infestations =) Opinions and mileage will vary, of course!

While on the subject of critters, do any of you happen to know what these two insects are?

Insect 1 on a Maurelii

Insect 2 on a Hibiscus

Bug #1 looks like some form of katydid.

Bug #2 looks like a ladybug larvae.

Gold star for TheTradition! Thanks =)

Mike

Silvia,, thank you for the kind comments, Tom should have-could have banged on the door and he knows this, it's always so good to see him..... I look forward to meeting you, I admire your gardening skill so very much ....I hate to tell you but my back-yard is a mess, I try and keep the front presentable but the rest of it all is a disaster...yikes.... Thanks again, sally

Thank you Sally, I am looking forward to see you after Tom comes back from the Bahamas...
Your house location is dreamy! makes me want to move to Tampa.:)

Silvia