Best thing to mdo with my manure?

[caroline7758]

One of my Mother's Day presents was 10 bags of horse manure (I asked for it- yes, i am that sad!). I am very excited because it's the first I've managed to get hold of.Due to the rain i haven't had a good look at it yet, but apparently it's partly rotted, has no straw in and just a bit of shavings. It's in clear plastic bags. So what would be the best thing to do with it?
1) Spread it out on one of the overgrown bits of my lottie to rot down & suppress weeds at the same time.
2) Leave it in the bags- will it get hotter & therefore rot quicker this way?
3) Put it on the compost heap to speed up composting?
4) Take it out of the bags and leave in a heap?
5) Any better ideas? (I'm guessing it's not well-rotted enough to dig in yet)

And yes, I have done a search and read lots of useful stuff about it on the forums here, just hoping for some advice on my particular situation.

[caroline7758]

[supersprout]

One of my Mother's Day presents was 10 bags of horse manure (I asked for it- yes, i am that sad!).
And yes, I have done a search and read lots of useful stuff about it on the forums here, just hoping for some advice on my particular situation.

Lucky you Caroline, you're not at all sad (well at least not here lol), I gave my friend four bags of horse manure for Valentine's :P ::) Yours sounds very high quality too ;D

1) Spread it out on one of the overgrown bits of my lottie to rot down & suppress weeds at the same time - yes, provided you put a solid mulch like black plastic over the top, otherwise the weeds will grow extra lush
2) Leave it in the bags - will it get hotter & therefore rot quicker this way - yes, not sure it will rot quicker but it will be portable!
3) Put it on the compost heap - YES!
4) Take it out of the bags and leave in a heap - yes! Put a cover over it.
5) You could put some in with your patooties and runner beans, where the roots will find it - they don't mind fresh manure, so you can use straight away. And you could use it as mulch on e.g. bush fruit, provided it doesn't touch the stems.

It's very accommodating stuff as you probably found already, lucky you!

[amanda21]

I have a friend who can supply my manure and I have had one load so far - nearly killed me moving the bags - it is SO heavy!  Anyway - she said it wasn't fresh and it didn't smell but it does have quite a bit of straw in it.  Does this mean is is too fresh to use?  I have to admit I just left it in a pile - hadn't thought about covering it until you just said.  I wonder now if the best thing is to scoop it up and shove into the compost bin - will it get my new compost going quicker??

[grawrc]

That's what I would do. Stick it in the compost - mix it all in and give it some time.

[caroline7758]

Thanks for the help, everyone.