Calcified Seaweed Treatment and Benefits

What is Calcified Seaweed

• Calcified seaweed is dried seaweed and lime or other calcium based salts
• Calcified seaweed is an organic substance without any nasty chemicals. There is concern that it is no longer approved by the Soil Association for use in organic growing, due to concerns that the harvesting of this material is not sustainable and has adverse effects on the marine environment.
• Seaweed is rich in minerals, encourages beneficial soil bacteria, helps improve heavy soil structure and neutralises acid soils.

Uses of Calcified Seaweed

• As a soil improver and clay breaker it breaks up the heaviest clay without damaging soil pH.
• As a compost accelerator it speeds up the breakdown of organic garden waste.
• Seaweed adds trace elements and minerals to the soil.
• Calcified seaweed neutralises acid soil
• Adding seaweed is beneficial to bacteria and is used in lawn treatment.

Maxicrop Organic Cal-Sea-Feed Calcified Seaweed 6kg tub from Amazon

Organic Hoof and Horn Fertilizer

Hoof and Horn or ‘Hoof and Horn Meal’ is a valuable organic fertilizer.
Ground in to a powder the hooves and horns of animals from slaughter houses makes this nitrogen rich granular fertilizer. The cooked, ground, dehydrated cattle hooves and horns also contains phosphates for root growth.

Using Hoof and Horn

• Fine ground the Hoof and Horn will provide a quick hit of nitrogen and some phosphates.
• A coarser ground product will be slower to release the goodness.
• Hoof and Horn is usually worked into the top of the soil at about 2oz per square yard.
• Take care as fine roots can be burnt if applied to thickly.

Uses of Hoof and Horn

• Hoof and Horn is a useful top-up or stop-gap organic fertilizer for nitrogen hungry plants and on poor soil.
• Used to increase green leaf growth and on vegetable when they have overwintered.
• Hoof and Horn increases root growth
• Organically improves soil structure
• Top dressing of Hoof and Horn as a stop-gap measure when growing hungry vegetables including brassicas, tomatoes and lettuce.
• Can be used instead of manure on rhubarb plants and around large fruit trees such as Nectarine and Peaches
• Hoof and Horn is sometimes used as a compost activator to speed decomposition

Compare Hoof and Horn to Other Fertilizers

• Hoof and Horn Meal is is equivalent to Blood Meal in Nitrogen content. The nutrient availability is slower, which is better for organic crops causing less leaf burn.
• It nutrient availability starts at around 4-6 weeks and can lasts 12 months.
• It contains Phosphorus for stem and root growth.
• Hoof and Horn nitrogen content is comparible with Blood Meal. The slower release rate of the former is better timed with plant uptake rates.
• At normal application rates it will not be damaging or wasteful.
• Hoof and Horn has a strong smell that may attract animals but it dissipates more rapidly than that created with Bone Meal.
• Not seen packaged up as frequently as it was at one time Hoof and Horn is worth looking out for

The nearest substitute we have found is Chempak 2 a product range supplied by Thompson & Morgan

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Cuttings in a Tray or Open Ground

Tips For Cuttings

• I mix compost with Perlite and fill a 24 cell tray for small cuttings.
• This green plastic tray is supported by a rigid plastic seedtray. This cuts down sterilisation but I use the green trays several times until they crack or need throwing away.
• Bottom heat can help cuttings root more rapidly.
• On some Rock Roses (Helianthemum), I have just used hormone rooting powder from amazon.
• I keep the atmosphere humid with a clear lid and or a regular spray of clean water.
• The cuttings do not need any fertilizer until roots show at the bottom of the cell.
• When roots start to show, pot-up into individual pots or plant out in the garden.

Larger Cuttings

• 3″ pots or 12 cell trays can be used for larger cuttings like pelargoniums.
• Pelargoniums do not need any hormone rooting powder.
• For hardwood cuttings I would take a longer piece of material 4-8″ in many cases. For this size you need a deeper and more stable pot to hold the cutting
• Last autumn I took some Rose cuttings and put them in a trench filled with soil and sharp sand. Several have rooted nicely and are now ready to be set out in the garden.
• I do not get despondent if cuttings fail. If cuttings succeed I am hapy to get true clones of the original plant at no cost

Fuchsia cutting tips
Root Cutting Tips
Delphinium cutting tips
Carnation cutting tips
Autumn cutting tips
Dahlia cutting tips

Clay or Plastic Plant Pots

Some plants thrive best in plant pots. Others need pots to help them through their juvenile life until they can be planted out into a permanent position in the garden.

Uses of Plant Pots

• Pots are a good medium for containing, selling and transporting plants. Garden centers couldn’t function without them and nurseries nowadays only sell a small number of bare rooted plants.
• Pots protect and enable plants to develop good root system.
• Pots can be the final home for some plants and be used in a decorative manner.
• Houseplants are invariably housed in a pot of some description.

Clay Pots

• Terracotta pots made from fired clay are the pots old gardeners had to use.
• Clay pots are porous and allow water and air to move within the compost.
• Water evaporation from the sides is slow but helps keep the pot and soil cool.
• Clay pots can be heavy and well balanced so shouldn’t be blown over.
• Clay pots tend to dry out quicker than other pots and watering needs must be considered.
• Some plants such as Auriculas, love the conditions of clay pots.
• Glazed pots are usually earthen ware or some form of clay pot.

Plastic Pots

• These are cheap to manufacture, available in many sizes and light to carry.
• Black flexible plastic is used for larger pots. Brittle plastic seems to be used for small 3″ and similar pots.
• Plastic pots are easy to clean with a disinfectant. Pots can be reused many time and last several seasons.
• Plastic pots tend to breed and if you end up with a surplus they are not  recyclable.
• Plastic pots rely on the compost to control the watering and moisture level.
• Roots do not adhere to the sides of the pot as they may do with clay pots.

Related article Tips for Planting Summer Pots

My Fat Tomatoes are Well Fed

Well the tomatoes are not yet as fat as I hope they will be. I have now started feeding with ‘Tomorite’ a high potash feed made up in a watering can from a concentrated liquid.

I also use other liquid feeds from cheaper sources in between Tomoriting the Toms. I am not sure this does them any good but variety is the spice of life as a good tomato will tell you. As you may see from the label Tomirite now contains Seaweed extracts and that saves me adding the seaweed concentrate that I have been using for several season (the bottle seems bottomless).

Consistency is the key to Tomato growing and I water daily in hot weather feeding alternate days. I also damp down the greenhouse in the morning if we are in for a hot day.

Tomato feed is fine for giving flowers a boost. You probably don’t want any more leafy growth on your annuals so deadheading and a booster feed will increase the flowering capacity of your plants.

Drip feed seems to be a new fad that I find a bit cumbersome. It may work well for a small number of plants. A variety of Tomato feeds are available from Amazon including some of these new fangled drip feeders.

Tomorite is supplied by Levingtons and is widely available. They claim it is a ‘Liquid plant food for tomatoes, also ideal for flowering pot plants that appreciate a high potash feed. Contains seaweed extract that supplies many micro-nutrients essential for maximum growth and better crops. Ideal for feeding growing bags, giant planters and tomatoes growing in open soil’.
‘When to use: April to August’ according to Levingtons but I find that too early to start and feed June to September in my greenhouse and stop in August outdoors.

For more on seaweed

Nutrients and Fertiliser for Plants

You might not think your plants need 5 a day but they do need nutritious food to survive and thrive. In many situations they can get all they need from natural sources, just look how weeds thrive without the help of gardeners.

Essential Nutrients and Chemicology

• Hydrogen and Oxygen in the form of water or H2O.
• Nitrogen N – more than the gas in the air
• Potassium or Potash K
• Phosphorous P
• Magnesium, Sulphur and Calcium.
• Carbon -  in naturally occurring gas or solid form.

Trace Elements Needed By Some Plants

• Iron Fe
• Zinc Zn
• Copper Cu
• Boron B
• Chlorine Cl
• Manganese Mn
• Molybdenum Mo

Sources of Nutrients & Fertilisers

• Good hearty soil will contain most or all the plants needs for a while. If cropped heavily then soil needs some help to recover. Every flower you cut or vegetable you eat has taken some nutrient from the soil.
• Organic compost are natural and have a good balance of nutrients without being too potent. Garden compost or well rotted  animal manure are the tops.
• Man made chemical compounds are offered as fertilisers in liquid or solid forms. The balance of chemical content is recorded as the proportion on NPK eg 22:11:5 is high in nitrogen whilst 8:8:8 is a balanced fertiliser.
• Seaweed is a good tonic often rich in the trace elements.

Three Key Critical Fertilisers

• Nitrogen,  Phosphorous and Potassium often referred to as N.P.K are the essential three.
• Nitrogen is key for leaf and stem growth and all round vigour of your plant. Ammonium Sulphate is a quick acting inorganic nitrogen producing fertiliser, Hoof & Horn is  organic or a compound fertiliser with potash will convert to plant friendly nitrogen.
• Phosporous helps the growth of strong roots and seedlings. Bone meal or fish meal contains phosphates or a compound with ‘superphosphate can be purchased.
• Potassium needs to work with nitrogen but is particularly influential on flowers and fruit. Compound fertilisers are the best way of providing potash along with some nitrogen (tomato feed is rich in potash). Wood ash can be used but the amount of potash being added is uncertain.

Fertiliser Products

A range of special fertilisers bespoke for each species of plant is available from available from Thompson & Morgan

A widely available and favourite fertiliser with all elements bound together in a granule is Growmore

MiracleGro and other proprietary fertilisers from Amazon

Organic Liquid Seaweed

Read more on Calcified seaweed

Sphagnum Moss for Gardeners

Features of Sphagnum Moss

• Sphagnum moss is a great liner for hanging baskets.
• It holds a large quantity of water and is easy to wet
• The moss is very slow to rot down.
• Sphagnum moss is light and easy to work with.
• In bogs, sphagnum moss compacts down over the years to create peat.
• Florists use sphagnum moss to make wreaths.

Other uses of Sphagnum Moss

• As a mild antiseptic that inhibits bacteria growth, Sphagnum moss has some medicinal uses.
• It was used in massive quantities for dressing wounds during World Wars I and II.
• Sphagnum has traditionally been used for bedding, to pack wall cavities and it has been used to caulk boats.
• Sphagnum was once used as an ingredient in bread and provides the peaty flavour of whisky.

Sphagnum moss products from amazon

Seed Trays

Seed sowing is reaching its height in the middle of April. It is worth looking at the labour saving devices that were not available to our parents and grandparents.

Seed Tray Review

• Old wooden seed trays with slats and high sides are still in use. They need care when cleaning before new crops are sown.
• Plastic seed trays from rigid polypropylene with drainage holes can be used time and again and are easy to store and clean. There is generally a pattern of ridges to improve drainage.
• I like to use the thin plastic segmented inserts inside a normal seed tray like those in the photograph.
  • They are cheap enough to be disposable but last a couple of seasons with care.
  • They vary in the number of cells, 3×5, 8×5 or 4×6 for example.
  • Each cell can be for individual seeds or used for several fine seeds. It makes pricking out and planting far easier.
  • The cells can also be used for growing on after pricking out. 15 or 24 good plants can be raised in one tray.
  • Do not put plastic inserts in a tray without drainage holes or the compost may get water logged.
• Seed trays can be used to hold individual pots in one place. Up to 15 square 3″ pots can be put in one tray and they are a bit deeper than a standard tray.

Amazon supply seed trays in a variety of sizes and packs click here
Thompson & Morgan have a smaller selection of seed trays. Strange for a seed merchant I think.

Seed Tray Tips

• Take care when watering to get all the area damp. Be careful with small cells and those near to the drying sun.
• Label your seed sowing with the date and type of seed sown.
• Sterilise your used seed trays in Jeys fluid or similar
• To water from the bottom fill a larger container and stand the tray in the water until enough has been taken up.
• Do not leave seedlings too long before pricking out. Long roots soon become stunted.
• Carefully push out the cell contents from the bottom if using this product.

Nets and Netting

Netting can be very useful in the garden and there is usually one or more types for each particular application.

Climbers like Sweet Peas need something to cling on to as they grow. You can cut off the tendrils and tie the stems to a cane but that is labour intensive. I prefer to use a very open green plastic net. It is about the cheapest you can buy and if you throw it away at the end of the year it will have done its job.

For runner beans and climbing beans I use stronger plastic net also with a wide open mesh and strong poles. Again it is still cheap as a form of netting.

For protecting soft fruit like strawberries or building a fruit cage you need knotted netting also called mesh knotted netting. This is strong enough to keep out the birds. The mesh varies from 7mm squares to 18mm diamonds. The smaller gauge keeps out moths and butterflies and the wider for pigeons and small birds.
For herons over your pond a wider mesh of 45mm will not spoil the appearance.

Insect mesh netting is finer and more akin to fleece. It can deter carrot fly, cabbage root fly and caterpillars whilst giving a modest amount of shade.

Wind break or shade nets are made from higher density polypropylene.

Pond nets for leaves and debris can also protect your goldfish. A fishing line strung across the edge of ponds may deter cats and other creatures.

Suppliers

Netting varieties available from Amazon

Nets available from Thompson & Morgan

Potato Planters

Easter is a traditional time for planting your potatoes but Easter is a bit late this year.

To get started I am trying a variety of potato planters with my early potatoes.

Types of Potato Planters

• The simplest planter I am using is a large black plastic pot. 12″ in circumference and at least the same in height and it will grow a good few spuds from one or three tubers.
• For main crop potatoes in planters I have used half a large compost bag. Part filled I have then turned down the top so some of the black inner plastic shows and helps the container warm up. (Black draws the sun’s heat to the planter).  As the spuds grow I can fill up with compost to avoid greening on the potatoes.
• I bought a plastic purpose built planter from a local shop. Details on the picture. It has an opening so I can take potatoes from the bottom of the bag as needed. However I think I will empty the bag in one go. If anything it is too small for my taste (and so will the potatoes be).
• Last year I had great success with old damage polypropylene waste disposal sacks as planters.

Tips for Potato Planters

• Keep well watered as the potatoes start to form  (I hope you have included drainage holes in your planters).
• Feed every fortnight in May and June with a dilute liquid feed.
• I put the planters under the eaves of the house for early protection. Then I move them when the frost has finished.
• The black bags and pots get warmer than the light coloured pots and planters. The green planter kits look a bit tidier.

Seed potatoes and various planters are available from Thompson & Morgan