Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Nana1 on January 10, 2018, 21:11
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hi, I manured( well rotted cow muck )my two plots four years ago, since then i have used a combination of green manure on some areas and chicken pellets before planting. This is were i get confused as the soil on my plots is light and easy to work should i really have left it so long without adding any more muck......
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You don't have to use manure, making your own compost and adding it to the soil, and using green manures are good alternatives. Light soils tend to need more feeding though as they're so free-draining any goodness tend to wash through fairly quickly, so perhaps add some general fertilise regularly.
If your plot is still productive I wouldn't worry about it too much though, add manure if/when you can get it, but don't worry if you can't - that's what I do :D
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Have you got any facilities for making compost? I'm a fan of no-dig gardening and I spread any compost I can make on the beds each autumn. I have used well rotted cow muck in the past, but getting it delivered without having to barrow it to the plot is out, so I used shop bought compost and spread that. It works fine, but costs a bit more. Mumofstig is right - don't get too hung up on it, just do what you can.
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as I've said many times before every to there own I use both horse manure cattle manure as well as NPK fertilizer inc nitrogen and wood ash also use my home made compost but not enough to do all I need
haven't got round to growing green manure yet possibly this year it will be interesting to see how green manure feeds the ground and what results we get from growing green manure
we also found using well rotted cattle manure containing straw helped our light sandy soil as the ground is very hungry for manure we also found spreading horse manure liberally stopped our soil capping when I can't get any manure it will be time to give up the allotment
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You don't have to use manure, making your own compost and adding it to the soil, and using green manures are good alternatives. Light soils tend to need more feeding though as they're so free-draining any goodness tend to wash through fairly quickly, so perhaps add some general fertilise regularly.
If your plot is still productive I wouldn't worry about it too much though, add manure if/when you can get it, but don't worry if you can't - that's what I do :D
thanks a lot, that explains so much cheers :D