Planning a garden this year? I just learned about the existence of wool pellets. Wool pellets are made from the wool that is rejected during the scouring process, which is then compressed into pellets for gardening. This wool is considered too dirty to clean and would otherwise be thrown away, burned, or composted. This means that your yarn could be zero waste one day!
I learned about wool pellets from Clara Parks’ podcast Voices in Wool. In episode 7 she interviews Anna Hunter, a Canadian sheep farmer who discusses the struggles of wool processing in North America. Wool pellets are not yet available in Canada and they are a newer product in the USA. They are not widely available yet, but they sound so promising that I hope they catch on! You can find them in small quantities online for purchase. I really recommend listening to the episode if you’d like to learn more about the value wool pellets have!
Benefits of wool pellets to your garden:
Wool holds onto water. The wool wicks away excess water to help your plants get the water they need at a healthy pace, and holds extra water meaning you can reduce how frequently you’re watering your plants up to 25%!
Helps with soil aeration. When the wool soaks up the water it expands allowing for better aeration and extra oxygen in the soil. This helps your plants’ roots spread and grow stronger!
Natural fertilizer. Since this wool is made from 100% raw wool that often has manure stuck to it these wool pellets act as a great slow release fertilizer for the season. They are full of the nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, iron and sulfur that plants need to grow strong and healthy.
Repel slugs and snails. When placed around the base of a plant these pellets felt and make a rough surface that slugs and snails avoid.
Great for container gardening and inground gardening.
Wool pellets are all natural, organic, sustainable and renewable!