Gardeners flocking back to Shropshire Seaweed

The days might be slowly drawing out, and we’ll soon be in British Summer Time, but for most people in the UK it still doesn’t feel much like spring. Yet despite the frightfully cold temperatures endured in February and March, it seems that our dedicated legion of Shropshire Seaweed fans are already preparing busily for the summer.

We’re delighted that so many of last year’s converts have again placed orders for our organic seaweed fertilizer ahead of the new season. There is, after all, no greater endorsement for a company’s products and service than a happy, returning customer.

What’s more, we are humbled with how many growers actually took the time to leave us feedback on their first year of using Shropshire Seaweed Growth Enhancer.

"I can honestly say this growth stimulant works a treat,” wrote John, from Lincoln, “and that's allowing for the worst spring/summer weather I can remember!” He urges other gardeners: “Get some and give your plants a treat!"

He was not alone in commenting on the transformation he had seen after using the product. Carol, who lives in Blackburn, had “totally given up” on her garden - until a friend recommended Shropshire Seaweed at the start of last year. “It brought my plants back to life,” she said.

Meanwhile, Christopher from Winsford, Cheshire, was pleased to report that his last bottle of Shropshire Seaweed was “just as good as ever.” In fact, he had decided to get another bottle for his mum for a Mother’s Day gift; we’re sure she would have been delighted!

Alongside the potency and versatility of Shropshire Seaweed, customers seemed to have been equally impressed with its value for money. Peter in Dublin had had “great success” using the product, noting in particular that it was "highly concentrated and goes a long way.” This time, he said, he had decided to purchase a larger, five-litre bottle and use it throughout the garden.

As the 2013 growing season begins, hundreds of new gardeners are learning about Shropshire Seaweed and trying it for themselves. We’re hoping that in time more and more of them will join the ranks of the converted.

If you’re yet to try Shropshire Seaweed, hopefully Benjamin from Ipswich can convince you: "If you grow anything, you need this in your life!"

Click here to find out more about the benefits of Shropshire Seaweed Growth Enhancer - or view comments from our customers on Amazon and eBay.

Everyday Uses for Seaweed

If you've come across The Shropshire Seaweed Company before, you probably know all about using seaweed as a fertilizer or as an organic compost maker. While this traditional use of seaweed extract is well known, there are new applications for these amazing plants being developed all the time, many of them here in the UK.

You may have read, for example, about the ongoing exploration of seaweed as a biofuel, to help power cars and planes, or of how doctors recently used seaweed to help save a mother who had complications during childbirth. Whilst the widespread application of these pioneering technologies may be some way off - they still have more than a hint of Tomorrow's World about them - there are many seaweed products already on the market, with benefits for you and your family in the here and now.

For example, seaweed now offers a safer alternative for anyone has ever struggled with Oven Pride or any another chemical oven cleaner. The discovery of 'surfactants' - a sort of organic detergent - within the Laminaria Digitata seaweed has redefined what can be achieved using a natural oven cleaner - with performance far beyond the old citrus based options. Developed by Sea-Chem, the Sea Clean Eco Friendly Oven Cleaner was initially developed as an industrial strength degreasing product and as such is now being used widely by professional cleaning franchises as a totally safe oven cleaner - one that can be taken into customers' homes without any health and safety worries.

Seaweed's high nutritional value also makes it incredibly effective during the water purification process. In effect, it's a sort of Red Bull for the bacteria that break effluent and waste down, heightening their activity and allowing them to multiply rapidly. For this reason, seaweed's use in municipal wastewater treatment facilities is growing, but there are domestic applications as well. Over a million UK households are fitted with stand-alone septic tanks. If this is you, you'll know that septic tank problems can cause a significant degree of anxiety. Here, seaweed is providing part of the solution, combining with augmented bacteria to assist in septic tank shock treatment and septic tank maintenance.

Indeed, seaweed's ability to fuel the activity of micro-organisms has led to its wider application in the bioremediation of contaminated soil, such as is found at old gasworks, petrol stations and industrial units. Again, these developments are not without domestic applications, with products such as our own oil stain remover for driveways, drawing on much the same principles. Meanwhile, the use of seaweed in cosmetics and nutrition continues to gather pace here in the UK. You may have read, for example, that in November 2012 the first licence to harvest seaweed for food purposes was awarded in Cornwall.

As a sustainable and green resource, with a unique biology, seaweed will come to play more and more of a role in our everyday lives over the coming years. Hopefully this blog will have opened your eyes to what is already out there.

David Ross, Business Development