There is no doubt that seaweed, used as an amendment to the gardens in any way, is of benefit. After storms I gather what has been washed-up along my neighbours' beaches and use it to improve the soil in lasagna gardens, as a mulch in the hosta gardens (kills slugs), and add it to the compost.

In days gone by, after drying, seaweed was used to insulate some homes, especially the base as was in your case. Your pile in the field could be used as a soil amendment. I'd be making use of it. :O)

I know that in our provinces seaweed is abundant, but I would not use it for walkways since I consider it gold in the gardens. For the walkways I use leaves and shredded wood chips from a mill up the road.

tiffy! boo! Seaweed's all right. If you haven't got anything else.
(Wink.)
(Don't make the "can't get seaweed" people jealous. It's makes them feel terrible about themselves. I, being sensitive to the misfortune of others, downplay the benefits of seaweed in the garden, or I use parentheses, so the "can't get seaweed" people understand that what is taking place between the parentheses is a private conversation, and it's in their best interest, for their emotional well-being, not to eavesdrop.)

(The reason I LOVE seaweed so much is because the worms LOVE it and because it keeps the soil so deliciously moist. I use it as a nourishing, and weighty, mulch on top of my newspaper mulch.)

I find seaweed slippery

(so I like to put something on top of it like hay or chipped leaves.)

In the spring, my yard smells like the ocean

(which is a wonderful smell, as you well know. We're the luckiest gardeners on the face of the earth.)

I hear wood chips make nice mulches.

(Snort.)

There you are Annpat!! Another neighbour. Such a small world...

... my yard smells like the ocean... and sometimes when I forget it smells like something else. Especially when the neighbour drops off a cartload where it's not seen for a couple of months. But the stuff was sooo good and slimy. :O)

Yep! Good stuff!!

And for the 'can't get seaweed' people, please read between the lines - yucky, slimy, full of salt and sea fleas, riddled with leftover crustaceans and dead fish, etc.

When I had access to a small lake, I put lots of lakeweed stuff in my compost piles, and it seemed to work well. Did take a few months to break down; but I did not live there and so never tried to hot compost.

Ha! I would be the same way if there were people around. There's so much seaweed at the beach where I get mine that people won't go there. You sink in it when you walk on it and it goes for miles.

The place where I load up is quite often driven on by trucks who launch their boats there and the seaweed is all nicely broken up into little itty bitty bits that's just like confetti.

oh,,,man,,,the beach I go to is not too busy because it is in a private neighborhood where there is NO PARKING on any streets. You have to park in a small parking lot and walk 1/8 of a mile. It is worth it because it is such a beautiful beach,,,but still enough people who will see you loading up on seaweed,,,LOL

(Where's your parentheses? You guys are causing a lot of heartache.)

oops,,,(sorry)

(hehehe)

Huh? What parentheses?

Booswalia, it's good to see somebody from PEI here! You may be the first. What do you think, Tiffy?

Your description of seaweed and its uses makes me think of eelgrass, though that's more of a harbour, brackish water plant. We've used eelgrass in paths, as a carbon for compost piles, and as insulation around the house foundation - one of its traditional uses. Eelgrass that's half green and still cassette-tape-like makes a great moisture-conserving mulch around plants. The pulverized stuff is good for the compost pile, etc.. I like to use seaweed, on the other hand (kelp, dulse, bladderwrack etc) as a mulch for established plants, between rows and in compost. But the crunch and slime of it make it unpleasant and sometimes slippery for paths. And I picture it dissolved into slime after a winter around house foundations. But I've never tried that.

If you find plastic trash bags of seaweed or eelgrass unwieldy and easy to break, as I have, those mesh chicken feed and sunflower seed bags are great - really sturdy and lightweight and reusable. The farmers co-op stores sell them cheap.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:308993}}

Yes, that's what it is. I only ever hear it referred to as seaweed around here. What ever... it's great stuff.
The dulse and kelp ect., I think would be quite heavy to take in bags. I must try it sometime though.

First from PEI? That's odd, we have so many gardeners here.

I live near the beach and last time I was picking up some kelp and other seaweed I also picked up some sand flea skeletons and some thin shells.
A young couple stopped to ask DH and I what we were going to use it for....DH, without a smile on his face, told them I was going to make soup. (It's a family joke.) I told them I used it for mulching the garden and for the compost pile. I hope I was more convincing.
I think I need to go back and pick up more kelp. Works well.

We seem to have more bull kelp here than anything. The shape of it doesn't really seem conducive to being mulch material, but maybe I'm just not thinking of it the right way. Anyone ever used bull kelp as mulch?

And Carol, when trying to look up more info on bull kelp, I found a recipe for bull kelp soup. Hey, sounds good to me. Seaweed is one of my favorite snacks!

Seaweed, eelgrass, it's all good - so many uses. Right now I have a 45 gallon barrel of mixed seaweeds that's been 'cooking' in water for 6 weeks. I say 'cooking' because it is not dissolving into black liquid foliar spray like the stuff in the bottle, as I'd hoped, but turning into a wonderfully foul smelling half-dissolved concoction which we will spread one of these days along the asparagus rows.

We sometimes lay kelp down whole between rows - like big strips of lasagna noodle.

Oh, that sounds terrible, Paul.

(I make smaller batches and use it within two weeks. It doesn't smell much. I think it's a fabulous foliar spray. Besides fertilizing, I've read it has disease suppressing properties used that way. I think it works, albeit briefly, to deter slugs.)

Yes, seaweed is better than a stick in the eye.

... and a boot in the derrière.

Yep, Paul, I think this is a first. Welcome to the forum Booswalia from the isle with the best red soil I've ever seen.

Spagetina - Not sure I know what you mean by bulk kelp. I gather the kind with 'bubbles' on them and sometimes I'll get the grassy kind too if I'm lucky. Just wish those bubbles would pop like that plastic bubble wrap, eh? Might scare the hoards of grasshoppers away when taking a walk in the gardens...

Paul - I've made some seaweed tea in the past if you want to call it that. :O) I'm no expert so I won't go there again. :O)

Oh, Ann, not sure where to put the parentheses so here's some for you. () Just put them anywhere you'd like and if you need more just give me a holler!!

Bull kelp:
{{gwi:308995}}

Hey, enough!!! ;-) I think all you "coasters" need to send all of us "inlanders" some seaweed. I'm not fussy, any kind will do. That bull kelp is some ugly looking stuff but it was fun for us kids to play with at the beach.

I tried to convince DH on a trip last summer to fill the pick-up with weed from an inland lake. He wasn't convinced! So I just filled the PU with yard sale finds instead.