Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Middle Eastern Gardener on August 16, 2018, 09:41
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This is my first year of having a good sized garden plot which is going really well so far, I am aiming to follow a five year rotation plan as I have the space. We are in southern France near the Pyrenees, so modifying information I research. However, I am a little confused over when is best to spread manure. It looks like before & after potatoes. I thought before brassicas as well as they're supposed to need lots of nutrients. Am I correct? Any thoughts will be really welcomed as I'm really excited to keep going.
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Ok - no matter whether it comes from cows or horses there are two types of manure - fresh and well-rotted. Fresh can be spread over bare soil in autumn/ winter and will gradually rot down as well as keeping any weeds at bay then in spring it can be dug into the soil when you prepare it for your vegs, with the exception of root veg like carrots and parsnips as it will make their roots fork. Well-rotted is just the advanced stage of the former so you can dig it straight away or use it as a mulch (as said above). Don't apply fresh manure when planting as it will scorch your plants or when adding lime to your soil.
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I would suggest that adding manure before brassicas may be counterproductive, because brassicas need very firm ground; adding manure can mean that the ground is looser and therefore the plants may not produce crops properly