Manure

Im hoping to give my soil a real boost over winter and thought the best way would be with some manure.

Ive been looking at suppliers and one has quoted the below:
Produced from local stables, who use shaving based bedding for the horses
Odour free and well rotted
Richer than ordinary farm manure
Adds hormones to the soil
Suitable for acidic loving plants - not suitable for vegetables, trees including maple, bur oak etc or honeysuckle vines, lily's etc

It says not suitable to vegetables!? Why would that be do you think? Does any one have a reliable supplier in the south??

So is suitable for veg?

Manure that is contaminated is not supposed to be supplied for vegetable growing so maybe that is why they are saying that it’s not suitable for vegetable growing but it would be ok for ornamentals. It is either contaminated or they are just covering their @rses! There is the bean test you can do to check for contamination

I would agree that there is a possibility of chemical contamination.  A lot of people had problems in the not too distant past with distorted and useless veg resulting from compost that contained aminopyralid.

Several years ago, we got hold of some manure from a local stables, which actually had a problem getting rid of it all, so it was free. I suppose we got about a ton eventually, and it filled an insulated compost heap, 4'*4'*3'. (The heap was made from old composite steel panels, used for supermarket walls, and was a fabulous place to compost anything).

After a year of working, (sometimes the panels got too hot to touch), it reduced to about half, and became the best compost we'd ever had!

So, I've probably told you as much as you already know; go to a decent stable supplier, using straw based bedding, but compost it as best you can, as it'll be too new, and get the benefits next year...

...you may be in time for it to reduce by the winter this year, so could use it by the end of December!

Hi, can't help with your query sorry but talking manure, does it need to be on soil to get it to rot down like compost bins or could i stack it on plastic? Have a Marestail, nettle, bindweed problem so trying to compost without introducing those into "clean" raised beds? Linda
Many thanks

If you are composting difficult weeds, (1) let it compost for a longer time (a year?), and (2) turn the whole pile so that any incorporated seeds sprout, then turn again. Keep turning until there are no more sprouting weeds.

I decided on a local farmer to deliver me some cow manure. Quite a bit more than I was expecting  but I’m really pleased with it.

He said it was about 6 months old. After he tipped it I was expecting it to give off heat. But it doesn’t appear to be. Hardly smells at all but it quite wet. Would you think this is rotted enough to spend on beds straight away or should I give it another couple months to break down further?

Yup, as Potterer says, spread it around on the beds, it'll dry anyway, and next year you'll have a great start to the season, with fewer weeds, and a nice place to work in as well!

Make sure you leave no gaps though, the stuff really needs to be plastered over each area you want to grow, as weeds - usually perennials, will just jump at the chance to have a bit of sky in any gap and a good meal nearby...