[chickpeacurry]

The beds for potatoes have been double dug with horse manure.  The areas that are for beetroot swede leeks have also had manure added.   My question is is it necessary to add a potato fertilizer also in the spring.  The brassica and legume patches have not had manure.  I find this fertilizer and feeds the most difficult to get my head around.  I know squash and corgettee are hungry feeders.   My beetroot was hopeless last year but great bean crop.   This will be my second full year so really want to get the best possible crops.  Thanks

[mumofstig]

What kind of soil have you got?

I tend to think of manure as soil improver and still use fertiliser - but then I grow on sandy soil which doesn't hold on to nutrients. On an improved clay soil the fertiliser may not be necessary.

so, the answer lies in the soil......................................

 

[gavinjconway]

Yes - as MOS says - manure is a soil improover  and has little fertilizer content so yes... add before you plant.

[4 Seasons]

I have sandy soil and never have used fertiliser in combination with manure for potatoes. Manure contains nutrients enough for most crops as does compost. The only time I use fertiliser is if I want a rapid growth of something (rhubarb, celery, asparagus, soft fruit etc. and it is always applied while the plant is growing and needs a boost) and roots including potatoes in my experience do not need that. Onions and garlic don't either as it is said to make them rot in storage but mine sometimes go soft in storage too just using manure so that might not be true.
Gardening eh? Theres always a different opinion.

[ididntdoit]

I'm 100% with the view that manure adds almost no nutrient value to the soil, its main use is as a soil improver and a very over-rated one at that. Lots of farmers, stables and the like have lots of it to get rid of and I suspect they perpetuate the myth of its usefulness. In some cases it infects the soil.

[JayG]

Different opinions are sometimes the result of having different conditions to deal with - I agree with Mum that the answer lies in the soil (having been used to much heavier soils it took a few years after I moved house for the penny to drop that crops grown on my sandy soil without additional fertilisers were much poorer than I expected if I only relied on compost or manure to provide the nutrients, although their usefulness as general soil conditioners should not be overlooked whatever sort of soil you have.)

[Nikkithefoot]

I got my plot a few years back now and it is fairly sandy soil. The first year I dug and grew what I could, fair results TBH.
The next year I dug in copious quantities of cow manure. The soil structure improved and so did my results, but I think this was more due to the moisture retaining properties of the manure and improves structure.

The following year, more manure concentrating on the heavy feeders, spuds, squashes. I also judiciously used granulated fertilizer (applied before rain) and had magnificent crops.

Personally I think you need to give the soil a hand afterall we do intensively grow stuff on our plots, however soil structure is equally important, if not more so for strong root growth to be able to pick up the nutrients.

In a nutshell for me its a combination of manure and fertilizer.