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| Friend has all kinds of (she says) composted chicken manure.
very poor soil on south side of house. She is handicapped and I would suggest the cardboard, manure to her, but how deep can she put it in a sheet (under cardboard) and let it sit all fall and winter? I have never used chicken manure but know it is "hot". |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Is this just manure with nothing in it or is it the scrappings of a hen house where a lot of some kind of organic matter was tossed in to help absorb that manure? No matter what you want something besides that manure and cardboard in that Lasagna Bed, some vegetative waste. Some have limited themselves to buidling a Lasagna Bed only about 4 to 6 inches high while others have gone 2 or 3 feet high,maybe more. There is no limit to height. |
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| Put the cardboard on top of the mown area then chicken coop litter + manure on top of the cardboard along with other organic matter like coffee grounds, leaves, shredded paper, etc. Speed of decomposition depends on what was used for bedding & the ratio of greens & browns. It's been our experience that wood shavings are slower than straw & even though still visible in the spring the manure has become crumbly, so easy to dig in & plant. I'm guessing the higher nitrogen of the chicken manure balances out the shavings robbing of nitrogen. We've used chicken & duck manure a lot to build up the soil. This ornamental bed was built in early spring with the freshest manures at the bottom & an assorted mix of organic matter on top. We planted around a month later. Chicken & duck coops visible in background.
Mound the bed up 3x higher than height desired in the spring and you can level it out more in spring before planting. Don't be afraid of using chicken manure as long as you let it compost awhile 1st. We don't wait for it to be "done" & it works probably because it is at least partially composted & mixed with the wood shavings or sawdust bedding. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, Aug 30, 11 at 18:56
| Corrine, that is gorgeous! I just want to grab a fork and some salad dressing and dig in. |
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