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Composted horse manure....
plant pauper
Posts: 6,904
My car accidently went off the road yesterday at the garden centre (it's ok, only my purse was injured) and there I came upon composted horse manure in bags.
I've read bits and pieces about it on here but is it worth the money or is it a fad? What would be the best way to use it to full effect in my flower beds?
I have a herbaceous border and also the "stinky bank" which is where I shove everything because I desperately want to fill it up so I don't have to look at it. It has trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs et al. I have a raised bed too where the soil is now just dust and powder.
Do I mulch with it, do I dig it in, or what?
Thanks.
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I'd do all three - first add it to your raised bed to improve the structure, then I'd mulch the beds and borders - the worms will dig it in for you
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I like the sound of that. Less digging for me.
I had considered emptying the raised bed it's so bad. The wee man here before me was a keen putter inner but not a keen maintainer so it's all got a bit behind. I'm playing catch up and I'm ok but I'm not brilliant. There's such a lot of hacking and chopping to do but I would really like some pretties as well.
Thanks Dove.
I'll do it after the party.
I use approx two thirds good top soil and one third well rotted manure in my raised beds. Maybe emptying and starting again would be a good idea
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They are shocking and my neighbour has offered me some soil. I'll see if the offer still stands. Fingers crossed.
Some people just use multi-purpose compost in raised beds - it degrades very quickly
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Before you buy manure in bags it is worth checking whether it is available locally, in bulk. Stables, commercial and private, often sell or even give it away. A local company near me delivers manure, topsoil, bark chippings etc in those big bags you get building supplies in. It works out a fraction of the price of those little bags in garden centres.
I've done that in the past but the riding school near me closed when the lady retired. There's another one just down the road so I'll maybe do a reccy. The stuff we got before was so mature it was full of worms. Delicious stuff! It had a horse shoe in it too.
Was Shergar in there too?????
OOER! If he was he's rotavated into my lawn.
I use the composted organic stable manure, it's good stuff, plants like it. As said, just spread it on thick. Be careful when buying manure from other sources such as a farmer. It could be contaminated with chloropyralids and other selective herbicides which will wreak mayhem with many food plants. Friends had exactly this problem. Also manure from farmers may be full of seeds, when I collected fresh poo from the local lanes, and composted it, I got loads of weeds growing!