[tillytup]

i'm confused....again lol
i am due to take on a new plot on saturday. After it has been dug over and weeded am i supposed to put manure on it to improve the soil? if so, i thought it is supposed to be left for a year before planting in it. So i can't grow anything?

[scabs]

My understanding of it is that if you dig it in, you're ok for a March planting. If you top-dress it, you'll want to make holes in the manure to plant in, otherwise you'll scorch the plants...

Although, this comes from someone who hasn't had his plot for five minutes and I'd hold on for someone knowledgable to answer! 

[penance]

If it is well rotten then should be ok, but dont put it where you'll be growing root veg.

[tillytup]

me again. i want to grow spuds, so i shouldn't put manure down?

[Steve.P]

If it's well rotted (does not smell of sh.t) you should be ok but if its fresh best not to.

[scabs]

When you say well rotted, does this mean a year old, months old, weeks?

How long before it stops smelling like sh*t?

[Steve.P]

To be honest i'm not sure how long it takes, but you should know by the look and smell. Fresh manure will have large lumps of horse dung in it and alot of straw and will smell of horse sh.t. If its old it will have a dark look to it with little straw left and smell slightly sweet, but no smell of horse sh.t. But being that you have a couple of months before planting you should be ok to get some dug in now.

[scabs]

Ok, the stuff we've got is probably not that well rotted down. I'll give it a good sniff at the weekend.

[Stripey_cat]

When you say well rotted, does this mean a year old, months old, weeks?

How long before it stops smelling like sh*t?

This depends a lot on how well it's been heaped!  Large, well-built heaps that are turned regularly will get very hot and the manure will rot in a few months.  Sadly, not many stables these days have staff willing and able to do this.  Small heaps (if you only have one horse), or ones that don't get the attention they need, rot down much slower and can take a year or more.  If you get a small amount of "raw" manure, you can add it to your normal compost heap instead of trying to get it going on its own.  You know when it's ready because it'll stop smelling of horse and look and feel like normal compost.