No manure!

[kippers garden]

I struggle as my plot is small and i can't fit a load of manure on it and it is in an funny position so a tractor couldn't get to it to drop a load of manure.

Is anyone else in this situation.  I buy a few bags of manure and use loads of compost, also bought as compost bins aren't quite ready yet, but this is expensive.  I do use blood fish and bone too.

How do other people manage.

(By the way, my hubby refuses to have fresh horse manure in the car).

[kippers garden]

[allaboutliverpool]

Do you have an allotment plot? or are you talking about a plot in a garden?
Most allotments manage to get manure dropped off, we get ours from police stables who are happy to get rid of it for nothing. You can build compost bins like mine that can be any height and not take up much room. You can see them on

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

each layer is separate and as manure or compost sinks, a layer is removed to a different growing heap.

[kippers garden]

Yes i have an allotment.  It could be dropped down the road but i would be thee all day wheeling  barrows of maure back to my plot, and i have no where to store such a large amount of manure. 

I have asked around to see if anyone will share but no one seems keen...help

[spacehopper]

Have you got any stables nearby? Friends of ours keep their horses at nearby stables, and once they are turned out for the summer, they go round the field once a week and shovel up all the poo to stop worms and infections building up in the ground. Last year they bagged it up for us and it went in a dalek with the kitchen waste. We were hoping to do the same this year but they have got an allotment now too. Bugger! However they assure us that there is plenty of poo to go round. Which is nice.

[manicscousers]

how long have you had your plot, kipper,?
can you manage with your soil 'til your own compost is ready..
we swap excess veggies for everyone's grass clippings, as long as they haven't used weed 'n' feed, old cardboard, just to build ours up..
also, green manure, if you've got some empty land, that'll enrich your soil  :)

[kt.]

My last load took me 4 hours to shovel in to my plot from the roadside. Is there any neighbouring plot-holders whom you could share a load with. 1/2 load to each of you. ::)

[lin]

Have to admit that in 6 years I have never used manure, mainly because I don't trust cow manure because of all the medication that could have gone into the cows. I know it is good for the plot and my neighbour uses horse manure, but I get just as good a crop... and usually better... just using gromore which I buy in a big bag at the beginning of the growing season and use regularly.

I also use the blood and bone occasionally to give them extra goodness. I have my compost heap in the middle of the plot and have just recently dug it over and got 3 or 4 wheelbarrow loads of wonderful crumbly compost, although I have to say it is the first time I have taken compost from it in the last 4 years, but it was wonderful stuff and just made up of the greenery thrown away on my plot!! Linda

[allaboutliverpool]

It only takes about half a dozen barrowloads to give a good start. The exercise is good for you and the end result worth the work.
Where is your husband? polishing his car? he needs a kick up the backside and told to demonstrate his masculinity by doing it for you!
A lot of councils provide free compost bins to encourage recycling, does yours?

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

[Eristic]

Consider investing in a trailer.

[davy1]

There are alternatives on the market Rooster. six x, natural organic manure and so on

[Common_Clay]

kippers garden, just to empathise with you, you're not alone!

I have exactly the same problem as you do on the allotment. The tractor can get in but can't get out because of the angle and I can't get manure delivered.

I use Growmore and blood, fish and bonemeal and used green manures once, which I'm wanting to do again. Like you, my compost bin isn't nearly ready, although it's almost full. Even when it is ready, I can't imagine it will go far.

  We also don't have stables nearby and there isn't an option for collecting your own.
  Some people on the site managed to get manure deliveries a year or so ago, but since then more plots have been taken on which prevents access. I have to say, I look on longingly at my neighbours plots, their onions are twice the size of mine.

[flytrapman]

Have you got a church nearby. I collect all the leaves a grass cuttings from the 2 local churches, still moving leaves from the autumn. I get loads of bulbs & pot plants that get they are replaced

[manicscousers]

It only takes about half a dozen barrowloads to give a good start. The exercise is good for you and the end result worth the work.
Where is your husband? polishing his car? he needs a kick up the backside and told to demonstrate his masculinity by doing it for you!
A lot of councils provide free compost bins to encourage recycling, does yours?

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

:o :o :o

[grawrc]

All this makes me feel quite guilty, sitting pretty with a ton of manure recently delivered and offloaded actually on my plot. :-[ :-[ 8) I'm really lucky as there is vehicular access to my pots. Some of the other folk have to barrow stuff to theirs.

I also have 6 compost bins - 3 on each plot. 4 currently full and rotting down, the other two being filled up. Plus I have a stack of turves (from surface of plot 2) rotting down as well. I plant green manure rather than leaving plots empty and dig them in after a bit.

The council delivers a huge stack of leaves every year and we can help ourselves to that and rot it down to make leaf mould. We can also get sterile compost delivered via the coucil garden waste recycling programme.

Apart from that I use seaweed as a pickmeup in the spring, growmore and chicken manure (pelleted) +BFB.

I hadn't actually thought about all the things I do and use so thank you Kippers garden for making me think about it.

I have to say I agree with your husband : I wouldn't really like horse or any other manure in my car. :o :o
There are lots of folk on my site with trailers or pickup trucks who are quite happy to help out though. Maybe you could try that?

[allaboutliverpool]

Further to my last entry, I have  now constructed a page on how I deal with my compost.
I have read many books and magazines and have never seen my method used, but I would heartily recommend it. It does not come cheap and the 5 bins cost me £200 but I expect them to last for years.
Obviously if you are prepared to scrounge cheap timber or make them from pallets it will cost very little. It is the method that is important.

See:-

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_compost.html