I spent a farm season finding unusual things in the mulch around our fruit trees a few summers ago.
We used leaves from a nearby town’s lawn waste pickup as a mulch layer to keep down weeds, and often forgotten items like socks, toys and pottery shards emerged as we raked them between the plants.
Treasure hunt aside, the experience got me thinking about affordable and close-to-home soil amendments available to us in Maine. It’s good practice to make use of something that would be thrown away otherwise, and I appreciate the time and effort saved by finding resources already close to home.
Along with options like animal waste compost, fish fertilizer and biochar, here are some options from Maine to meet the needs of your soil.
Seaweed
Seaweed is having a moment for farmers and gardeners, and we have an abundance of it in Maine. With access to the shoreline and permission to harvest there, you can gather your own for composting or tilling into the soil.
Many Maine companies also create prepared products like kelp meal and seaweed fertilizer, including North American Kelp in Waldoboro, Gulf of Maine in Pembroke, Living Acres in New Sharon and Coast of Maine in Portland.
Wool
Waste wool from sheep shearing can be used in the garden as loose fleece or pellets to retain water and slowly release nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and iron over six months.
The tiny barbs on the wool can deter slugs and snails from reaching your plants. If you’re getting wool from someone else, ask if it was treated with anything before putting it on your plants.
Ocean compost
Byproducts from shellfish processing are now a common sight in compost blends. In my experience, they were very rich and produced healthy plants — plus, finding the occasional intact lobster claw sticking out of our vegetable beds always made me smile.
I used Coast of Maine’s compost with a blend of lobster and crab. Benson Farm in Gorham also makes a “surf and turf” compost from local processing waste, mostly crab, sea urchin and lobster mixed with animal bedding and manure. The shells slowly release chitin, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, according to the website.
Peat
Peat retains water and releases it as needed (my mother swears by it for her houseplants), and can also hold onto nutrients, making it useful for sandy soils. It helps break up heavier soils and improve drainage. Though it is environmentally controversial in some circles, it’s currently produced and sold in Maine. Peat is mined from bogs, which release carbon dioxide when they are drained and disrupted. Carbon dioxide is thought to be a big contributor to climate change.
One large producer is in the Washington County town of Deblois, where Worcester Peat sells in bulk. Coast of Maine offers peat blends, too.
Other shells
Some growers use ground oyster shells or clam shells as a source of calcium for soil, similar to eggshells. Using it has been shown to raise the pH levels of acidic soils, and could improve soil fertility for crops. When ground to a mix of particle sizes, it could help improve soil structure.
