Topic: Advice Needed!!!!

[gardening jan]

Tomorrow I'm collecting some horse manure for my new allotment and I was wondering shall dig over the beds and spread the manure over and cover. Or shall I just spread and cover and dig before sowing? (There is a few weeds, but they're not too bad).

[grotbag]

hi jan,me i would dig over and spread  manure on top and let the frosts and worms do their stuff.

[manicscousers]

hiya,jan..if your ground is like ours, it's not diggable..when we started, we dug out the big weeds, covered the beds with thick card and piled manure/soil on top, then covered the whole lot, by spring, the cardboard had virtually melted and the worms had mixed the manure in..the soil was warm and ready for planting into  :)

[saddad]

Good advice from the Manics there Jan...  ;D

[Trevor_D]

What I used to do is: pre-Christmas, trench-dig the bed and incorporate the manure; post-Christmas (when the ground was too wet/cold/frosty for digging) spread it as a deep mulch over the top, then dig it in during the spring.

But we now live in uncertain times....

Some (most? quite a bit? hardly any? I might get sued if I'm too particular with my choice of words!) horse manure has been contaminated with aminopyralid and can do more harm than good. If you're sure your's is OK, go ahead. If in doubt, spread it on the top and rotovate it in thoroughly several times.

When you say "cover" - with what? If you're using it as a mulch, that is a cover.

[gardening jan]

Thanks for all the advice. I thought I would cover it with plastic, thinking it would warm it up.

[ceres]

To add to Trevor's excellent advice on manure, do a search on this forum for aminopyralid and also Google it.  

[gardening jan]

I am collecting the manure from my bothers stables, what do I need to ask him to insure the manure has not been contaminated by aminopyralid?

[ceres]

Stable manure, IMHO, is the highest risk kind because it is difficult to trace the origin of the animals' feed.  If you brother buys in hay or silage or grazes the horses on pasture, any of these could have been sprayed.  The only way to check is to go back to the feed suppliers/land owners and ask them if the grass/hay pasture was sprayed and if so with what.  If they say they don't spray with anything, they're probably lying, so best to avoid.  If they can't or won't tell you, best to avoid again.   

[gardening jan]

Many thanks for the imformation i think it my just be a friendy visit tomorrow and I'll start looking for spent mushroom compost instead!

[nilly71]

Many thanks for the imformation i think it my just be a friendy visit tomorrow and I'll start looking for spent mushroom compost instead!

Where abouts are you?
If your anywhere near Romford, then i know a place local.

Neil