[matt80]

Hi everyone,

My uncle gave me a few sacks of pig manure about 2 months ago. I'm still in the middle of re-organising my veg patch (nearly finished now), so it has sat in big plastic sacks in my garage since I've had it.

I've always been confused as to where and when to use manure. Is it too late to manure my veg patch? I'm guessing it won't be what they call "well rotted manure"? Why is this important? Can I put fresh manure on as a top dressing?

Help !

[Stripey_cat]

New manure has a lot of stuff in it that can give the plants and their roots chemical burns (I think it's mostly ammonia, but I can't remember for sure - if you've ever caught a lungful of the fumes cleaning with ammonia you'll understand how it can kill roots!).  Even as a top-dressing, it'll still scorch leaves. 

You can mix it into your compost heap in layers and use it next autumn.  You could also put it in now where you'll be putting things out in a few more months: two bags isn't much, so I'd be very tempted to concentrate it in a bean trench, and a couple of pits for squashes if you want to grow them (basically, same principle as a bean trench, but for individual plants).  This does require you to know where you'll be planting things out in May or June, though. 

Alternatively, it may have rotted down a good bit in the sacks.  If it smells OK (like potting compost, not pigshit), and you don't mind sticking your hands in there (if you're not squeamish, find a girly-girl and ask her test it for you), then it is OK to use as it is - stick it in a good layer now on clean soil, and let the worms dig it in for you.

[matt80]

Thanks for the reply. I've got about 8 sacks of it, so quite a bit to go round. When you say put it in a bean trench - does it have to be rotted, or is it ok in any form here? Are there any others plants that I can use it with in this way - tomates perhaps?

[Stripey_cat]

I confess I've done trenches for beans and pumpkins with very raw manure and got away with it - since it's buried quite deep, and you don't plant them out for months yet, I think it has time to rot before the roots grow down.  I'm not sure about tomatoes, though - are they as greedy?