The Key Is Kelp: 5 Unexpected Reasons Kelp Is Becoming The Best Fertilizer For Home Gardens & Why It’s So Eco-Friendly

Unfortunately, I’ve recently learned that I’m addicted to seaweed.

I need to sea kelp…

That’s a good one, right? It had me and the kids laughing all night, whenever one of us had a slight problem with anything, another would tell them to sea kelp, and we’d be off in fits of laughter again.

While kelp is definitely the funniest fertilizer I’ve ever used, I didn’t start using it because I like the jokes — that’s just an added bonus.

Photo by Shane Stagner on Unsplash

I’ll admit that I came late to using kelp. For literally thousands of years it’s been used by coastal peoples around the world for all kinds of things, fertilizer included, but I don’t live near the ocean.

In fact, I’m about as land-locked as you can get, and I wonder if that’s part of why my garden loves kelp so much. Maybe it has nutrients my back yard can’t get from any local source.

After all, it came from the ocean where all the nutrients are mixed up in a soup, and easily available to plants that have evolved to extract them.

Obviously I can’t plant my garden in the ocean, but what if I could bring a bit of the ocean to my garden?

It’s been 2 full years now since I replaced my usual fertilizer with kelp, and I thought it was time for an update. It’s done wonders for my garden, but I want to go one step deeper and explain why.

Why is kelp so amazing for growing things, and how is such a great fertilizer also eco-friendly, when most fertilizers seem to be harmful for the environment?

It’s all in the details — and none of them are a secret, so let’s talk about it.

I’ve boiled down the most important facts into just 5 key points, so that we can easily learn the essentials, without melting our minds with endless information.

Here’s what we need to know.

Photo by EqualStock on Unsplash

1. All The Nutrients, All At Once

Just like humans, plants need a wide variety of nutrients to survive and thrive.

Also just like humans, they can survive for a while on pure junkfood, but in the end they’ll be weaker, less nutritious, and even less tasty if they’re not cared for well.

That’s one area where kelp easily outshines most fertilizers, because it’s got everything plants need and then some, and it’s all naturally included, not added after the fact.

I could try to list them all, but typically there are more than 60 different nutrients, minerals, and vital elements in this type of fertilizer, and if you need that kind of detail, you’re better off reading it from the manufacturer.

2. Plant Hormone Producers

Just like humans, plants use hormones to grow, develop, and thrive.

Of course, they typically make their own hormones, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from a little extra boost.

Kelp naturally grows in a difficult environment, and it grows fast.

In the vast amount of time that kelp has existed on Earth, it’s developed an amazing ability to grow quickly and efficiently even in a harsh environment, largely due to its production of certain hormones.

Luckily for us, those hormones are still active and available in processed kelp, so it can act as a powerful bio-stimulant to help our gardens grow as well.

3. More Nutrients From The Same Soil

As most gardeners already know, there’s a lot of good stuff locked up in the soil that’s difficult for plants to access.

All the nutrients they need are there, but trying to get them is like trying to suck a thick milkshake through a small straw.

Using kelp in your garden helps to unlock those nutrients and make them more accessible, like getting one of those thicker straws with a spoon on one end…

Maybe that’s not the greatest analogy, but it’s still a major benefit that will make your plants grow larger, faster, and healthier, just by unlocking the nutrients that are already there.

4. Gentle, Natural Fertilization, Even For Edibles

Unlike most synthetic fertilizers, kelp has lower NPK values, representing the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium locked inside.

What that means, in a nutshell, is that kelp fertilizer can be used without fear of burning your plants, as normal fertilizers often do, and it won’t hurt your soil in the long run either.

It’s got the right ratios of practically everything your garden needs, and most importantly, it’s not too heavy on the potentially harmful components.

Photo by Mary Jane Duford on Unsplash

5. Eco-Friendly, From Ocean To Garden

Lastly, as much as I love growing things in my garden, I often worry that the fertilizer I’m using is causing harm to my own soil, and the area where it’s harvested and processed.

Well, I used to worry about it.

Kelp is the opposite — it’s abundant, natural, easy to harvest, and doesn’t harm the planet in the process. It might even help the planet, actually.

It’s certainly better for the world and all of us than the traditional fertilizer techniques, and if enough people start using kelp, it could even help to make a small dent in our CO2 output.

Even if none of that matters to you, what should matter is that it won’t hurt your garden, even if you overfertilize a bit.

That’s something most fertilizers can’t claim — and it’s definitely something I look for.

I don’t think I’ll be looking to grow my own kelp farm anytime soon, especially since I’m landlocked, but I’m happy to support a new way of making fertilizer that’s better for my garden, my plants, and the world in general.

It’s also a great conversation starter, because where I’m from, kelp is new to us — and the neighbors always ask how my garden grows so fast.

I just tell them it works with a little kelp from my friends.