How much manure?

[Torreya]

We pay about £35 for a trailer load of Dexter (cow) manure, approx 2 to 3 tons delivered. We (that's the 'Royal' we!!) have to barrow it around into our back garden, but the farmer's really good and leaves us the trailer!! It's not fully rotted, but varies from fresh to 12 months old, depending on what mood he's in when he loads it!!

[Snadger]

£100 is too much. Its usually free. Farmers can't get rid of the stuff these days as its classed as toxic waste.

You need to grow a heck of a lot of veggies to get £100 worth!

[Curlykale]

I thought it sounded expensive! They saw me coming didn't they - probably rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of getting rid of their muck heap AND make some money out of it. (By the way, it IS my local stables!)

It sounds as though 2 tonnes isn't quite the mountain I had envisaged - I will try and knock them down on the price or tell them 'thanks but no thanks' and look elsewhere.

Thanks everyone.

[Two_Sheds]

Say sorry, you've had a better offer, and see what they say.

Good old Vine to the rescue again!

[Liza]

I have been offered 2 tonnes of well rotted horse manure for £100 (delivered). Is that good value? I have no idea how big a pile that will be - I was thinking about asking some of the other lottie holders if they wanted to share. (I will need enough for about 30 raised beds 10' x 4').

Don't suppose anyone has a photo of 2 tonnes of horse manure do they??!! (And if you have, why??)

Are all your raised beds ready to take it..? and/ or ready to plant up? If not, could you get it for free if you go and fill some bags yourself ( I find rubble bags from supermarket great as not too big, so not too heavy to lift!) you could do it over a few weeks and get exactly the right amount you need.

Its heavy stuff so 2 tonnes may not be enough.

and a bit extra for the compost bin

[bubblewrap]

We(two of us) share a trailer full getting on for 7 tons cost £22(£11 each) delivered (it comes about half a mile)
As the manure can't be dumped the "farmer"? is only too glad to be rid.
I used to get some free BUT I had to collect, the most the car would carry was about one & a half hundred weight so the stuff I paid for worked out cheaper in time/petrol & effort.

[snohare]

Fork out the money you were going to spend on manure, on getting a towbar for your car from a scrappie. If you have an allotment you will never regret it, because suddenly you can borrow/hire a trailer with all those other towbarless plotholders and go fetch manure, seaweed, timber, compost, plants etc for minimal or no cost. You would be amazed at how popular you become !
(And if your area is anything like around here, if you get or make a lightbar for a trailer that actually works properly, people will beat a path to your door to borrow it, because so many otherwise usable trailers have lights that don't work, and the police are really tightening up on safe trailer use.)
I was once given the task of shifting 15 tons of horse muck...funnily enough, I stopped before it was all gone ! I'd say that a ton of horse manure takes up a lot more space than a builder's ton bag - maybe twice as much.

[geoff]

100GBP (sorry, this is an American keyboard) is far too much to pay for manure. I got a trailer load from a local stables last spring, for free; that's about eight tons! They were glad to get rid of it
The manure was free, but I gave the driver a fiver for diesel and a pint
Admittedly it was quite fresh, but it rots down fairly quickly
I put down cardboard and newspaper, then topped it with the manure, and dug it in after a couple of months

[Norm]

I'm having 4 tons delivered next week for £15

[Storming Norman]

Well it's not just us southerners that get the try on then?

One of our plot guys has suggested that we have a delivery shared of manure. His supplier charges his £2.75 per bag but would deliver it free if we had 70 bags!

I kept a straight face and suggested he tried the local garden centre who 'only' charge £1.50 per bag of the rotted stuff. But at least they fill the bags and load your vehicle for that. Then I wondered if I should tell him he could of course ring a few local stables - I have been able to get it free for the past year if I collect. I soil conditioned my whole new plot from this source last year.

The delivery is a major advantage of course - dragging a wheelbarrow right through the park to get to the allotment [then back down the paths inside the plot] is far more exercise than actually digging the stuff in. We also have to get the park gates opened for vehicle access, which is promised as being possible but nothing I have yet seen.