What to do with manure now

[andypagett]

Hi everyone,

I've just been given 9 bags of well rotted manure (work friend having a clear out to make room for new pile). What's the best thing to do with it now.

I have 6 beds on allotment:
1. spuds (mostly already planted),
2 carrots + onions,
3 salad, corn etc,
4 brassicas,
5 peas+beans,
6 cut flowers

Plus soft fruit + fruit trees + perennials (rhubarb + asparagus)

Where would it be of most use right now?

I should be able to get some more to put on in autumn.

[nickdub]

I'd say it could be used everywhere except the carrots, cut flowers and possibly the salad.

[fishpond]

Put it on the surface where you think it is most needed.

[Thelma Sanders]

I agree with nick, anywhere except the carrots and the salad. The beans would love it and courgettes/squash/pumpkins if you were thinking of maybe, fitting any of those in somewhere....

[Jungle Jane]

Out of all those I’d pick potatoes,peas & beans can make their own nitrogen

[Aberdeenplotter]

keep it till next year and use it with your spuds

[annie8]

On a similar note i may have secured a source for a regular supply of horse manure. It’ll be pretty fresh though. Was assuming I’d need to put it into my compost bin which I wont be using in the garden until next year. Is that the best approach.

[andypagett]

Thanks everyone! Given the variety of responses and the fact that spuds onions and carrots were already in I spread it around the brassica / pea/bean beds , and some where the corn/squash will go.

Hopefully should be able to get some more from the same place which I will save for the potato bed in autumn

[nickdub]

On a similar note i may have secured a source for a regular supply of horse manure. It’ll be pretty fresh though. Was assuming I’d need to put it into my compost bin which I wont be using in the garden until next year. Is that the best approach.

Depends really on what you are growing - it would be good in a trench with peas or beans planted on top or in a mini-volcano with a squash, courgette or similar planted in the hole - as a rough guide have a layer of soil above the fresh manure, so that the plant roots don't come in to direct contact with it - could also be used as a surface mulch for roses for example.

[It never rains..it pours]

On a similar note i may have secured a source for a regular supply of horse manure. It’ll be pretty fresh though. Was assuming I’d need to put it into my compost bin which I wont be using in the garden until next year. Is that the best approach.

Compost bin works well or if like here need that space for other things, then find it rots fast here in plastic bags especially if has a few worms

[Penellype]

On a similar note i may have secured a source for a regular supply of horse manure. It’ll be pretty fresh though. Was assuming I’d need to put it into my compost bin which I wont be using in the garden until next year. Is that the best approach.

If there is plenty of it and it is very fresh you could make a hotbed - all you need is containing edges (a hole in the ground, wooden sides or straw bales etc). You can line the bottom with cardboard to suppress weeds if you wish. Then fill with manure, tread it down quite firmly to remove air pockets, water (with pee if you like or ordinary water) and cover with a couple of inches of soil or compost - used grow bags will do. Plant or sow into the top layer. Cover with a plastic sheet and leave for a week or 2 until it cools down to about 15C. You can cover it with a cold frame or plastic cloche of you like, although its not necessary in summer.

I've grown various veg like this - lettuce, spinach, beetroot, carrots, melons, courgettes and dwarf beans. The only total failure so far has been sweet potatoes. I wouldn't recommend it for brassicas as they won't like the heat, but potatoes would be ok.

By the following spring you should have 1/2 to 2/3 of the volume of the bed full of superb compost.