After so much rain during the past few weeks, it was a relief to have a relatively dry day! 
You may remember that last week I visited the Atlantic shoreline to harvest some seaweed to use on the garden. 
The strands to the south of Sligo town have piles of loose seaweed here and there along the beaches.
Always only ever take the loose stuff…don’t pull seaweed from stones as these form habitats and are essential to the ecology of the seashore!
In the end I managed about three big bags of seaweed and headed home with my foraged booty!
The first thing I do is to spread it on the gravel around the cottage and allow the rain to wash out excess salt.
After about a week, I start to spread the seaweed around established plants in the garden and tunnel.
The seaweed acts as a wonderful feed and a weed-suppressing mulch!
One of the best things about growing food in the garden is the opportunity to use local and near resources that are free to be foraged or collected…seaweed is an organic fertiliser! 
Seaweed is washed in by the tide, so is easy to forage!
Only ever take what you need!
It can be used straight away too by the way!
It’s packed with Potassium and Nitrogen, bot wonderful for the garden!
In the next blog, over at Bealtaine Cottage Good Life, I will explain how to make Liquid Seaweed Manure…along with lots more pics of the vegetable beds mulched with seaweed and how this feeds the plants!
https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-good-life/
Thanks for the info on using seaweed as I have never done so before 🙂
It’s great…try it!
When I lived on the west coast of California, my girlfriends & I gathered eel grass from the beach. Because we were worried about the salt contact, we usually spread it out, leaving if the rain for several months. Supplemented by the straw bedding I mucked out from my chicken coop, I had lots of fertilizer and mulch. We also went to a local horse stable, where they were all the glad to let us clean the stalls. We also let that age, and made manure tea. We had the best organic gardens around.
Sounds fab!
Wonderful narrative! I feel like I was there with you. I’m nowhere near the sea (any sea) so can only dream of harvesting seaweed. Keep up the great work! Someday, we’ll get to Ireland and perhaps visit you. Pam
We were just outside Sligo at the seaweed baths in April. Heavenly! Glad the plants like it too.
I have read about the farmfolks gathering seaweed for their fields back in the 19th century. Glad you are reviving this ancient practice.
Edie
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