[harlequincc]

Hi,

I have had an allotment for a year now which we as a family have loved, but I am in need of some advice.

There is a viridor site about 10 miles away from us which sells composted green waste for £15 per tonne + VAT,  I can also get hold of some cows manure,  could you advise me which is better for growing.

I understand that you are not suppose to put the manure on all patchs of the ground due to some veggies not likeing it.  Is this true?   

If anyone can help with my desicion it would be much appreciated.

[Trillium]

Both compost and rotted manure are good for veg gardens (and flower gardens too). They both enrich the soil and add nutrients from the plant material ingested or composted. Ask 2 gardeners which is better and they'll take opposite sides. For me, it's mostly a matter of what I can get hold of as both are rarely available at the same time. Big facilities tend to use a 'hot' method of composting which will kill off a lot of pathogens and diseases, so you're fairly safe using purchased compost from viridor. Pricewise - I haven't a clue if that price is good or bad, but it sounds reasonable provided you can get it to your plot. Manure is the gardener's staple soil feed, aged only for current use, and fresh only in fall when it can sit for the winter to break down and mellow. A few crops like parsnips and carrots don't care for too much feed as they tend to bloat and split easily from fast soft growth and it often causes root splitting - 2 or 3 smaller roots under one stump rather than one nice root. I feed my snips and carrots and rarely get splitting, while others have a lot of problems if they do. As Percy Thrower often said, it's in the soil. 

[Lewjam]

I dont tend to use Cow Manure type fertiliser for any crops i take out of the ground (Root veg).

Call me old fashioned but i just don’t like the idea my may carrots literally covered in Ahem.

If you sure its all very well rotted down then fill your boots, just be careful because some manure can carry all kinds of nasties - especially things that are not always cooked (Radish/carrot etc)

Im sure many people here will disagree, but i just think allot of manure you get from farms (Not horse) your never sure what the farmer has been feeding the cattle on!  Feeding on powdered dead sheep i remember was a fav food in years gone by – and if its not been cooked in the compost bin enough your never sure what’s left in it!



Lew

[Shadrak]

I was under the thinking they dont do the sane job so you would need both, I have allways used them plus lime as part of my rotation. But l could be very wrong.lm sure one of the better members could reveal all .

[Aidy]

I use both in different beds, finest rotted blackpool donkey cack on my brassica, legume and spud bed and compost on the roots. I also dig a hole, line it with lime and fill with compost for my brassicas. They are probably slightly different in the nutrients, the main thing is to get something in the ground to build body in the soil. I seem to recall that cow cack is stronger then horse cack so make sure it is propper rotted.

[BostonInbred]

Just to put the con of the opposite view, the stuff you get from the recycling centre has been known to contain broken glass - no one has come up with a method yet of screening glass out of green waste perfectly, which is one of the reasons its not used commercially (that and the fact its inconsistent in the nutrient levels from batch to batch).

I make big piles in autumn of horse poo + shredded paper + the last of the hedge trimmings chopped up with the lawn mower + sawdust from my mates chicken houses. It hot composts and works fine.

[thearaig]

If it's just manure, the stuff from animals kept on concrete floors, then the nitrogen content is likely to be very high. It needs to be mixed with a high carbon material (straw, cardboard) and composted for a while. Any compost will help with soil structure. If you're breaking new ground, dig plenty in. The effects on root crops are largely cosmetic. one legged, tapered carrots don't give you nearly as many laughs