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| Just dumped a pickup load of horse manure on my small garden. Should I spade it into the ground now or should I use it as mulch until spring and then spade it in? Thanks- Paul |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| My own preference is to incorporate it into the top 4 inches where it will save some nitrogen evaporation and the manure will rot down further before planting time. |
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| Assuming you have read all the recommendations against using fresh manures in a food garden then how you treat it now all depends on how well composted/aged it is. If it is less than 60 days old or if you will planting in it in less than 90 days then leave it on top to continue exposed decomposition. Till it in at least 30 days prior to planting. If it is more than 60 days old and has been properly stockpiled/aged and you will NOT be planting for at least another 60 days then you can dig it in now. Dave |
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| You have already dumped it in your garden so too late. I used it last year and would never use it again. I used one year old manure, still weeds were a big problem. Never have pulled so many weeds. I then learned that the seeds pass through the horse intact and remain viable for years. |
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| "I then learned that the seeds pass through the horse intact and remain viable for years." There's a famous saying about that in economics - if you feed the horse, the sparrow gets the seeds. Fill in rich for horse and poor for sparrow. The sparrows are supposed to be grateful. |
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| I don't like digging in the soil this time of year, ruins too many fungal colonies and earthworm burrows. I do pile horse manure on the future corn row, which gets weeded so intensively that I can keep imported weeds under control. That said, unless you are absolutely sure that no Merit herbicide was used on the horse's grazing fields, you should set the manure aside, compost it separately, and grow some pea or bean seedlings to make sure the manure is not a garden killer. |
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| victory tea2085, Are you informed or confused by now ...or both? |
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- Posted by victory_tea2085 z6 Ny (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 12:36
| Both, but I think as a result of the thoughtful replies, I will rake it out to about 4 "s and let it sit until about a month before planting season- thanks everyone, Paul |
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| dunno how things work in your climate, but me in the line of keeping it simple would lay it on top and cover with some sort of mulch like spoilt hey etc.,. no digging ever in our gardens: |
Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
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- Posted by lantanascape z6 Idaho (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 12 at 22:48
| I usually get a load delivered this time of year, and I just leave it in a pile, and then spread and incorporate it in the spring. As far as weed seeds go, that depends on what the horses have been eating. I get manure from a stable where the horses eat quality hay, and are turned out in a dry lot, so the manure doesn't introduce weed seeds. YMMV depending on how the horses are kept. |
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