how much manure for cucumbers?

[queen of the cobs]

I dug out a bed in my greenhouse today for my cucumbers - it's about 1.5 feet square and I went down about 15 inches - it was very clay-y so I didn't replace any of that earth.

I put about 3 inches of well-rotted and fresh manure in the bottom and topped up with home-made compost. Does this sound about right? I have another bed to dig out next week, and wondered if I should do it any differently.

Kept a bit of the fresh manure to make 'manure tea' with

[Mike and Louise]

That sounds Ok to me but we have always grown our cucumbers in big 12" pots with just compost.
They do very well in the unheated greenhouse.

[sewer rat]

15 inches is a long way down !! If you put your three inches of manure in, that still means that the roots have to go down a foot to reach the manure enriched ground. I would be tempted just to mix it through your home made compost when you are filling the next bed.
I have just covered my tunnel soil in 6" of well matured cattle dung and it will be covered now til probably the end of May by which time, I hope the worms and other beasties will have broken it down further and started to incorporate it so all it will need is a quick blast with the rotavator then away we go.

[queen of the cobs]

[QUOTE=sewer rat;209253]15 inches is a long way down !! If you put your three inches of manure in, that still means that the roots have to go down a foot to reach the manure enriched ground. I would be tempted just to mix it through your home made compost when you are filling the next bed.
QUOTE]


Damn, maybe you are right - I got a bit carried away with the digging.

Maybe I could dig out some of the compost, and mix up with the manure a bit?

[sewer rat]

I think that's probably the best option QOTC (nearly typed QOTSA there - one of my fave bands).
As long as your manure is well rotted there should be no problem, but if it's fresh, I would compost it for a good while before using it