There's a saying: When the tide is out, the table is set. Which means at low tide, clams and other shellfish become easy pickings. My parents knew this well. To keep us five kids busy--and fed--during summers at the beach they handed out shovels and told us to dig butter clams for dinner.

One day after clamming, I was running barefoot along the water's edge. Suddenly, I stepped right onto a cockleshell which sliced two wavy arcs into the bottom of my foot. Whimpering, I limped back to the house to find Mom. Instead of handing me a Band-aid, she told me, "Go back to the beach and wrap your foot in seaweed."

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I did as I was told and then leaned against a driftwood log and watched seagulls for a while. Long story short, the wound healed surprisingly fast, and I've held a special place in my heart for seaweed ever since.

Years later, when I moved to Kodiak Island, Alaska and started raising my own vegetables, seaweed entered my life again. This time as a remedy for marginal garden soil. Come to find out, no soil is perfect, but seaweed or kelp, is a super soil conditioner. For one thing, it adds fluff. By fluff I mean texture or tilth, which is necessary for healthy soil. Twenty five percent of soil should be water; another twenty five percent should be air. Water and air operate as highways that carry nutrients to plants.

In addition to fluff, seaweed provides nutrients as well. Since every natural element known to man exists in the ocean, seaweed concentrates these elements in its tissues as it grows. When you mix seaweed into the soil, your plants are treated to more than 70 minerals and other compounds. Sort of like a multi-vitamin. Healthy soil means healthy plants.

How to use kelp? If you live by the ocean, take road trips to the beach. To use fresh seaweed, don't bother rising it. Just add it to the compost pile, mulch with it, or make a tea. If you’re landlocked, look for liquid kelp or dried kelp meal in garden centers, catalogs and online.

So, if you want a lush green lawn, juicy red tomatoes or African violets that bloom like crazy, reach for the seaweed. It might be just what the doctor ordered.

Want to learn more? You might enjoy looking over my organic gardening articles.