Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: grumpaflump on July 30, 2016, 09:55
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I have just acquired some fresh house dung... I was thinking of digging it into a few beds which will not be sown until early next year....would this be a good idea or would I be safe composting it until next year.
Many thanks in advance :)
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Not sure i see the advantage of digging it in. Why do all that hard work when simply laying it on top of your beds would suffice? The worms and microbial activity will be beneficial, and it will act as a mulch over winter while it composts down into a great friable mixture ready for spring planting.
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It depends on what state the soil in the beds is in. If it already dug and turns over nicely, you could use the manure as mulch and turn it in next spring.
If the soil is compacted or very heavy, you could dig the manure in roughly and go over it again in the spring. Heavy clay can really benefit from having rough fibrous materials dug in.
As long as you are not planting for a few months, fresh manure will be fine either way this time of year. The soil is warm and the worms are active :)
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I'd layer it on top to keep the weeds down and let the worms and weather break it down before digging it in later in the year.
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I would be very carfull, fresh manure is full of weed seeds. Most seeds are designed to pass through a horses digestive system and are quite viable. compost it and keep turning the heap so that seeds germinate then are dug back in before they become established . or spread it on top and hope the seeds are either eaten by the birds or germinate and die in the dry weather or are hoed off :D