Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Horse manure vs. mushroom compost vs. mix for no dig clay allotment

Adamlewis1Adamlewis1 Posts: 6
in Problem solving
Evening all,

I've just taken over a small allotment which is pretty much just clay and I'm planning to move to a no dig model. Next winter I'll make my own mulch to go over the top but to get me started, I'm wondering what the best mulch option over a layer of cardboard would be ...

...is there any particular reason to choose either horse manure or mushroom compost over the other? My second question is am I better with a thick layer of just that to plant directly into it, or would a thinner layer topped with a layer of mixed organic compost/manure to give a finer top layer to plant into?

Thanks in advance

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    If your soil really is unimproved clay and you use the no dig method, you will have to wait many years to improve the soil. It would be better to dig in organic material and grit and mix it really well. However, if it is just heavy soil, a good layer of stable or farm manure, well composted, is best, in my experience. I don't use the no dig method so I cannot advise on planting straight into it.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Well-rotted horse manure is very rich and mushroom compost tends to contain peat and is usually alkaline.   The ideal would be a mix of the two but more manure for Rotation Group 1 plants plus squashes and courgettes and more mushroom compost fr brassicas which like lime.

    I suggest you have a read of these :smile:
    https://charlesdowding.co.uk/
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=124
    and
    https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/planning your planting

    as they will explain the whole mulching business and which crops need what soil preparation and more or fewer nutrients.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • jonathan.colejonathan.cole Posts: 221
    We have clay. The first two years of the new veg beds I topped off with horse manure in late autumn and left it over winter. Then planted direct into it.

    Only crops to perform badly were purple sprouting (destroyed by cabbage whites), carrots (something ate the seeds) and first year broad beans (some sort of fungal attack wiped them out).

    Everything else (onions, leeks, elephant garlic, beetroot, runner beans, peas, romanesco broccoli, potatoes, broad beans after year 1, radishes etc) have all grown fine.

    I've stopped adding manure and am only rotating crops at the moment. I'll top them off again in a year or two if it looks like they need it.
Sign In or Register to comment.