Horse manure (calling all you garden experts)
RPM1
buckets of manure. Said manure is from a
pile that's 1 1/2 - 2 years old. It still seems a
bit harsh. Is there anything we can mix in
to mellow it a bit and make it plant friendly?
It's time to put some of this horsey output to
work!
Ruth CM
Ignatzmom
>pile that's 1 1/2 - 2 years old. It still seems a
>bit harsh. Is there anything we can mix in
>to mellow it a bit and make it plant friendly?
We do well mixing ours with equally aged wood shavings, but it depends on how
acid or basic your soil is. I think they use sawdust (not fine ground) in some
of the nurseries around here. Also low quality peat ...
Lee Z, Still riding after all these years.
MJ McHugh
> We just filled a garden with a bunch of loader
> buckets of manure. Said manure is from a
> pile that's 1 1/2 - 2 years old. It still seems a
> bit harsh. Is there anything we can mix in
> to mellow it a bit and make it plant friendly?
>
> It's time to put some of this horsey output to
> work!
>
> Ruth CM
At that age, there won't be any problem. Just till it in good and watch
your plants explode. The only problem you might run into is an excess
of nitrogen which will cause a lot of green growth but low fruiting.
What are you going to plant?
Mary
RPM1
>What are you going to plant?
I have four small flats of tomato, cucumber,
green pepper and zucchini. Not many plants
at all (4-6 of each). I was late last year (as I
am this year) getting anything planted so I
took a big black container and filled it up from
the compost pile and plopped in a few tomato
plants and they went nutz! Andrew was up
to his earlobes in cherry tomatoes. :-P I don't
know how the other stuff will do but judging
from the grass and such growing on the pile
they should be okay.
Ruth CM grilled zucchini lover
Don Bruder
wrote:
: At that age, there won't be any problem. Just till it in good and watch
: your plants explode. The only problem you might run into is an excess
: of nitrogen which will cause a lot of green growth but low fruiting.
Hmmm... I should have remembered that from my days of cultivating
certain less-than-legal vegetation.
That might explain our tomato plants... I put a good healthy shovel
fulla ~2 year old manure in each hole before dropping the plants in this
year. Right now, they're going utterly gonzo (each one is on the order
of 2-1/2 to 3 feet high and 4 feet across at about 8 weeks old -
"Explode" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the way they took off!) but
there are only a few flowers, and so far, only one tiny little tomato on
one of the 6 plants.
Might just have to go get some bone meal for 'em to help pump up the
phosphorus level...
--
--
Don Bruder - Dak...@primenet.com
Horseman by day, 'net-freak by night. What a contrast, eh?
Make 50 cents (or more...) per hour when surfing by signing up
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John Klausner
SueK
Don Bruder
<rpm1de...@frontiernet.net> wrote:
: MJ McHugh:
: >What are you going to plant?
:
:
: I have four small flats of tomato, cucumber,
: green pepper and zucchini. Not many plants
: at all (4-6 of each). I was late last year (as I
YIKES! 4-6 zucchini???
Were you not aware that the VPA-established "danger" threshold for
Zuchini planting is one or two plants widely separated on a minimum of
one full acre of garden area? :)
Although I have known many ObHorses who positively LOVED zucchini. Some
of them liked a little roughage besides the zucc's themselves, and ate
'em vines and all. Much to the chagrin of my mother one year, who
desperately wanted some fried zucchini - that was the summer she was
pregnant with my sister. <chuckle> The horses found a hole in the fence
around the garden-plot, and got the whole thing, from artichokes (they
didn't seem to care for those. I don't blame 'em) to zucchini. I'm just
glad we didn't have cabbage in that year!
CMSQ...@webtv.net
needs an acid base. Horse manure is "sweet". My hubby, thinking it did
so well on the garden put it around his blueberry bushes (which take
acid soil, think Miracid?) and they all croaked in a couple of days.
Candy
MJ McHugh
> MJ McHugh:
> >What are you going to plant?
>
> I have four small flats of tomato, cucumber,
> green pepper and zucchini. Not many plants
> at all (4-6 of each). I was late last year (as I
> am this year) getting anything planted so I
> took a big black container and filled it up from
> the compost pile and plopped in a few tomato
> plants and they went nutz! Andrew was up
> to his earlobes in cherry tomatoes. :-P I don't
> know how the other stuff will do but judging
> from the grass and such growing on the pile
> they should be okay.
>
> Ruth CM grilled zucchini lover
With that group of veggies, you won't have any problem. In fact,
they'll all go nuts in the stuff. My M.O. is to start putting fresh
manure in a big pile in the garden as soon as plots start to be retired
at the end of the year. I keep adding until about January. Around in
late March, we spread it and till it in. You ought to see my sweet
corn, which is a heavy feeder and really thrives on the manure. Manure
is more of a soil amendment than a fertilizer, though it is a pretty
good source of nitrogen. If you have clay soil, after a few years of
tilling in manure and a few good earthworms, you'll have lovely loam.
Your lateness might work for you this year since it's been so cold.
Tomatoes and peppers are nightshades and as such, love the heat. The
cold weather can shock them into a dormant state. I keep mine under
greenhouse tunnels until they're too big. I also have a large (5') high
tunnel that I've got a few special plants under that will help extend
the season on the other end too. The plants under the tunnels are
easily twice as big as the ones which didn't have the benefit.
Oh, and a few weeks ago you asked what to do with the grass you mowed...
I didn't get a chance to respond then, but what I do is use it as a
ground cover/mulch between the garden veggies. It keeps water from
evaporating, keeps soil from splashing on the plants which prevents
soil-borne diseases like Septoria and keeps the fruit clean, and best of
all it keeps the weeding to a minimum. It's also great tilled under the
next year with the manure.
Mary
PS and Don is right... one or two zukes should provide *plenty*. You
know what they say... you can tell people who have no friends because
they're the ones buying zukes in the market during the summer. ;-)
Margaret Alfoni
mixed in) would be very acidic...maybe that's why my tomatoes don't like the
limed stuff I use! Eureka!
Meg
ChrisMathews
and garden beds. First time. I had rose bushes that had not bloomed in
about 5 yrs. This year I got blooming roses galore. When I put it on
my garden bed, I placed weighted card board down, and kept it covered
all winter. This spring, good soil, no weeds and very little turnover.
You can also may manure tea for your plants. Water/leak proof garbage
can/w lid. Take old burlap/or other type of non/waterproof material and
make a manure bag. Drop in can with water. Let seep. Do Not Taste!
Ha. You can the dip out with a can and water plants.
Kamm2MacD
balls & all, but should be welllll aged! I am able to use mine after 6 weeks
of intensive composting - (keeping damp, turning every 3 days, adding yard
trimmings/clippings and household compost...) and keeping covered with a black
plastic tarp. I have 4 compost bins. It's black and very earthy and full of
worms in 6 weeks, hasn't burnt a plant yet and our gardens all look lovely....
Eleanore
Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald
neo impressionist folk music
http://songs.com/kammac
'Calling on Love' will be released in May '99....
Joyce Reynolds-Ward
<rpm1de...@frontiernet.net> wrote:
>MJ McHugh:
>>What are you going to plant?
>
>
>I have four small flats of tomato, cucumber,
>green pepper and zucchini. Not many plants
>at all (4-6 of each).
Want my zucchini relish recipe? Hot water bath processing
only--you're gonna need it!
<grin>.
jrw
she...@my-deja.com
"RPM1" <rpm1de...@frontiernet.net> wrote:
> We just filled a garden with a bunch of loader
> buckets of manure. Said manure is from a
> pile that's 1 1/2 - 2 years old. It still seems a
> bit harsh. Is there anything we can mix in
> to mellow it a bit and make it plant friendly?
>
> It's time to put some of this horsey output to
> work!
>
> Ruth CM
>
>
We started composting ours last July, and threw in yard clippings, old
hay and house scraps. We turned it a couple of times a week and it
steamed like crazy all winter! Some days it looked like the pile was on
fire. I piled it on a spreader beginning May and spread it all over
our five acreas, especially heavy on a half acre I'm planting in
perenials and wild flowers and praire grasses. I thought the stuff
looked awfully potent too, but everyone told me it should be fine. Wow
, were they right. EVERYTHING is growing like crazy. And GREEN. The
perenials and wild floweres are beautiful. I only have some pumkins,
watermelen, tomatoes and green beans in the vegetable garden, not many,
but they are doing well, too. My mother-in-law was so impressed, she
came out with a garbage can to get a load for her garden. I would say
yours should be good to go!
Sherdan http://www.geocities.com/sherdan_52213/jhorses.html
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Robert Johnson, Jr.
manure.
Robby
she...@my-deja.com wrote in message <8i39e4$fct$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
fbragg1
manure/shavings! The peas aren't doing great but everything else is growing
wonderfully in spite of the drought which isn't helping anything! Don't know
if lack of water or lack of proper fertilizer combo is to blame for the
peas. Under water bans now and am waiting to be warned about using too much
water for the horses! I know my neighbors can see my boarders washing the
horses in the afternoons and they can't wash their cars! I'm not watering
the garden though!
Fran
Margaret Alfoni <mal...@easternscience.com> wrote in message
news:39426472...@easternscience.com...