Seashells in the garden

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Lily left the valley
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Seashells in the garden

Post by Lily left the valley »

Our east iris bed is near to covered with seashells. I've long wondered why, as it's the only bed out of a handful, and it's also not the only iris cluster either. One thing I pondered was maybe it was a way to raise the pH of the soil.

Today I found an article about growing dutch iris that didn't explain it being used as a top layer, but it did say something interesting that seemed worth sharing:
If mice and voles are a problem, add a few handfuls of crushed seashells or oyster shells to the hole{the iris bulb is placed within} to discourage them. They don’t like the sharp, pointy crushed shells.

I kept looking, focusing on calcium as a search word instead of seashells, and eventually I found more info about calcium supplements for plants, although I had to weed through a lot of posts related to aquarium plants. I thought this article was worth sharing as well. At the end, he shares a list of edibles that are keen on calcium. No mention of seashells, though. It also reminded me of a lot if plant facts I had forgotten from high school biology.

I did find another bit on that same site, from the forum. It was posted by someone trying to decide if a few seashells in their rose bed had killed the flowers. (If you don't want to read the whole thread, the consensus was no.)

I found a few also related to pH and seashells, but sadly they were on the old Gardenweb which was taken over by a site that adores putting pop ups in your face at every opportunity, so I won't link to that. :P

Ever since I first noticed the shells, I've been wracking my brain trying to recall if my Nana ever put them in her beds, since we lived at the shore, and her branch of the family has loads of fisherfolk. I honestly can't recall ever seeing them.

Anyhoo, just a side exploration for what I thought was unusual for being in a land locked area.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Sara
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Re: Seashells in the garden

Post by Sara »

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if your PO just thought it was cute.. like using mulch or landscaping rock? But you say they're crushed in your bed? So maybe not as cute. And doesn't explain why only in one bed.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Seashells in the garden

Post by Lily left the valley »

Sara wrote:Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if your PO just thought it was cute.. like using mulch or landscaping rock? But you say they're crushed in your bed? So maybe not as cute. And doesn't explain why only in one bed.
Our bed doesn't have crushed shells, that quote was from an article. I thought that at first, but after the research, who knows? Maybe it was for the calcimite from the shells, like a lazy gardener additive that slowly adds to the soil as the shells decompose.

Some of the shells are broken, but most are not. It's hard to get a good picture of them, as that bed is a sea of tall leaves right now, flowers are just starting to bud (folks have guessed iris and daylily, but I spoke to our neighbor today, and she says daylily.)

Since we're not that close to the shore (Gardner is north central MA), I'm guessing they might have been collected during a vacation or over the course of a few vacations, hence why only one bed.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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