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Manure or something else?
Helcatt
Posts: 18
I have some new beds to make (veggie and cut flower) and I need to improve the soil but don't have much in the way of home made compost yet. We have cow barns at the bottom of our track is it something I can use to improve the soil (perhaps after a period of composting?). Or am I better off buying something in? I'm going to need lots over the next year or two for further projects. There's just such a bewildering choice and some are so expensive (??120+ per dumpy bag)!
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I would choose the cow manure, but only if it is well rotted. Did wonders for my veggie garden years ago, had a farm size trailer load.
As BL says, must be rotted down for 6-9 months, but will then be wonderful
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Morning Helcatt. How fortunate you are to have a nearby supply of farmyard cow manure. You cannot get anything much better, but as punkdoc suggests it should be composted for 6-9 months. I also overlay fresh manure on some beds in late autumn and then work in in the Spring. A word of warning here, do not use fresh manure on root crop beds or you will get distorted veggies.
This is brilliant - thank you for your advice! I think it's worth having a chat with the farmer by the sounds of it!! Do I just keep it all in a big pile to compost it or should I be layering it with other stuff too? Will it work if I just create a big pile (I think it's mostly mixed with straw anyway from the cows feed/bedding).
Think I need to go and find out what a 'hot bed' is too...
If it's nearby fill ypur boots.. You could still collect leaves from a park or somewhere relatively weed-free and pile 'em on to get the worms aerating your soil.
For hot bed Google 'Beechgrove hot bed' it was 7 Apr 2014 and a follow up on episode 16. Need a raised bed or it's a lot of digging.
You can do either with your muck pile, layers or by itself, have you got a bean trench going yet? You can chuck a lot of your compostable stuff in there, theres probably 3 or more months left til beans can go out, so plenty of time
Dont forget, pumpkins and sqush love muck and can be grown on a vompost heap, its a great way to use the space
just watched the divine Chris on Beechgrove. When is it usually on? Used to watch it when it first came on in the 70s in Scotland, but haven't seen it since. Is it still based around Aberdeen somewhere?
Me too - thanks to Bekkie and Frank. Now I want a Hot Bed! Have to build some raised beds first tho' - which means I should really think about getting some terraces is my sloping garden... And start a composting area... the 'to-do' list grows!
The Beechgrove Hot Bed episode can be found here if anyone wants to check it out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01xrn7y
BBC2, Episode 4, Release date: 22 Apr 2014 and it's back on in Spring at some point