Topic: Horse manure

[Paulines7]

I have just been given some horse manure from a nearby stables.  The manure is mixed with wood chip and is 2 years old.  Can anyone tell me please, how much per square meter should I dig into raised beds. 

Does it make any difference to the coverage being mixed with wood chip and not straw?  The colour of the manure is a rich chestnut and it has no smell to it. 

Thanks for your help. 

[Tee Gee]

Difficult one this one when you consider the pundits will often say dig in liberal amounts, but how do you define liberal?

Back to your question: I never think you can overdo the application of manure but to put some sort of figure to it I would suggest  about 10 square foot ( 1 square metre) to a bag, where a bag is around 50-60 litres ( say equivalent to a standard 60 litre bag of multi purpose compost)

Regarding the wood chip there should be no problem there other than it will take longer to rot down.

I hope that helps

[johhnyco15]

i use it as a mulch normally 4 inches deep by the autumn its all gone the worms have dragged it down and the ground is ready for next years crops try it see what you think this bed had 4" of manure last year this was taken 2weeks ago tilled and raked  job done

[ACE]

As it is so near planting season, I would spread it on top 2 to 4 inches thick like a mulch. You will only be able to plant small plants as they will be poking through the top, seeds might struggle getting through the mulch. The manure will wash down through and do its job but the chippings will dry off and stay on top, but come the next crop they should be good enough to dig in and leave you with a nice bit of soil.

[Paulines7]

Thank you all for your advice.  I feel very fortunate to have been offered the free manure and it seems there is plenty more that I can have.  The lady who has the horses, delivered 6 sacks of it and in return, I gave her some eggs.  She is pleased to get rid of the stuff as it has been piling up for a long time.  I had just bought two sacks of manure from the garden centre last week.   

I only have two raised beds at the moment and one is already planted up with garlic and bulbs. I went a bit mad with the narcissi last year and bought far too many and there were about 40 different varieties.  I ran out of flower beds to put them into so ended up putting them in the raised bed with the garlic. 

The other bed is new and will need a lot of manure as I have emptied all my old dry compost in there from the greenhouse.  I intend putting two trellises up to give shelter and grow some climbing peas.  I will probably grow courgettes or squash in there too.  I start them all off in the greenhouse so won't be putting seeds in that bed.  We will be constructing some more raised beds once we have put up the fence to keep the chickens out.  It's been too cold to do this at the moment as neither of us have very good health.  Surely the bitter cold weather can't go on much longer!