[hubballi]

I have found a local riding school that has kindly told me I can have as much manure as I want. I can have some well rotted but it is underneath fresh so will have to dig deep.

I am going to use it in my salad trough, potatoes grow bags and raised beds in the garden. Can I just scatter it on the surface and mix it in or would you advise putting it under the compost ? I have never used it before.

[BostonInbred]

U need to compost it. Make up bins using pallets lined with plastic and layer it with sawdust, wood whips, grass cuttings, hedge trimmings etc.

[hubballi]

No, I need it for this season. It's rotted, not fresh.

[whippersnapper]

You'll know whether it's too fresh or not: should have lost it's bad smell abd will be blacker/darker than the fresh stuff on top. When I turn up at our local field, I normally checkin with the farmer when I arrive to be polite and he'll tell me which stack is older. It's pretty obvious anyway.

Get it asap (like now!) and dig a good layer into the beds. Leave until planting. Easy.

Just keep away from your root veg.

[gillie]

Spread a layer about two inches deep on the potato bags and raised beds and maybe an inch in the salad trough.  It will disappear surprisingly quickly.

Gillie

[hubballi]

Ok, got two big bucket fulls from the side of the heap that is oldest. It's dark, wet and  slimey, doesn't really smell and full of worms. Should this be ok ?

[gillie]

Yes!

Gillie

[whippersnapper]

Sounds like good stuff!

 

[hubballi]

I'm genuinely quite excited as this could really make a difference to the poor crops I have last year. In my raised trough I could pre-mix it with some bought bags of compost.

[whippersnapper]

I don't know how big your buckets are mate but I'd go back with 10 or so plastic sacks and get a shed load. I use old compost bags x 10 each trip. Ouch///my back.

[PennyS]

I am very very lucky.  The local farm has been delivering lorry loads to our lotty site.  Trouble is I don't have a barrow so I have been dragging it down in rubber bins, ikea bags, whatever I have!   But there is as much there as you could possibly want.  I'm storing it in my compost store for next year now so it'll be lovely and rotted.

[theakston_uk]

I was wondering if there is a 'rule of thumb' regarding horse manure and how much of the stuff to spread over a certain area of soil. I can have as much fresh manure as I like from a farm over the road from my plot. Obviously it has to rot down, but does it rot down much in volume and how much do you guys spread over what area of soil.
For example, does 1 barrow load of fresh manure rot down and cover 1 square metre of soil. I don't want to go over the top bringing loads of manure that won't be needed and on the other hand I don't want to run out of the stuff. Please advise me if I've got this totally wrong, cheers