Hello people
OK, so I've spread manure on the whole plot (except for where alliums are going to be), then dug it all in.
But do I do this every year?
And I'm doing a 4-year rotation, so for 3 years out of 4, alliums are going to end up in soil that was manured the previous year. Is that OK though, does the manure have all the manurey goodness sucked out of it by last years crop, and the soil ends up neutral by the time alliums have to go in again?
???
Thin sandy soils and clays need manure more than good loams to, respectivively, hold onto moisture and open up the structure, but 3/4 years I'd say is probably more frequent than necessary. Potatoes and squash really benefit from manure, but as you say I wouldn't manure for alliums, but brassicas don't get much benefit either because they prefer a very firm soil and grow too nesh if the nitrogen is too hgh (which admittedly it probably isn't with well rotted manure) and I don't think legumes get much benefit either.
If you have a redy supply I'm envious! But for me I'd just do the potatoes and squash.
I'd agree with that although, when I have enough available, I put some manure on the brassica beds in autumn. If they are too acidic come planting time I treat with lime.
I've put manure on the lotty for the last couple of years, this year year I will just add compost and top dressing to the areas I think need it, :)
Apart from problems with aminopyalid I do not think you can get too much well rotted manure. My alliums got some and were very good and so did the brassicas also very good until the =13 gpt to them. But for me it is the carrots and parsnips which do without.
We have very very well drain soil so it needs something to hold onto the moisture.
There's some discussion of the amount of manure the Victorians used in 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden'. I'm sure it says they added up to a foot of manure a year (a foot thickness that is) and it doesn't seem to have done their veg growing much harm!
I agree with you the more the better, accept for brassicas its every other year so its lime one year or a handfull of lime into every hole you transplant a plant into and I only dig the the brassica patch in the auturm as they like a good firm base
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 05, 2011, 18:43:56
There's some discussion of the amount of manure the Victorians used in 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden'. I'm sure it says they added up to a foot of manure a year (a foot thickness that is) and it doesn't seem to have done their veg growing much harm!
I must agree I would also go along with what Harry Dobson says in the 'Victorian Kitchen Garden' I'm just sorry he is still not around today giving us his wealth of knowledge when a garden had to provide veg for the big house for the year, but what else would the Victorians do with all that muck, :)
It's in the February section. Up to 100 tons and acre, equivalent to a layer a foot thick. But think of all those horses they had, pooing all over the place; they had to do something with it!
I could easily use a couple of lorryloads every winter if I had more cash, and I could be sure of being able to manage the stuff when I got it. I don't think I could handle more!
A foot thick every year now that is a lot of poo. :o
Frend of mine is keen manure user and he is not much shy off the foot when spreading it on yearly.. his potatoes are fantastic, root crops are crap, onions huge but majority with thick neck due to too much nitrogen and they don't store ::)
So I would say, you cannot have enough of the stuff but use it on right crops.
I would love to have foot of it on my squash beds...
Goodlife more or less summed it up, the only bit I have to add is that my next plot neighbour has his manure tipped on his onion bed,, so the bed has a good helping every year just by being stored on his bed, but he never weeds it which some how compensates the nitrogen intake. ??? ;D ;D ;D
I only put manure where the potatoes and squashes are going then as the rotations move round each area gets some every 4/5 years.
First question - what is your original soil like?
I am surprised what you say about alliums - I get good onion and garlic crops now and I manure them religiously. Ok I don't weed that much but I try to keep them a bit tidy. The only bit I don't manure is the root veg patch, I just use fertiliser on that...
Alliums don't mind the manure..but nutrient contents are variable in manures..some are really well 'weathered' and not so 'potent' anymore..that sort of manure is ideal for almost anycrops as a soil 'conditioner'..but if it is very nutrient rich stuff with still lots of nitrogen...that sort of stuff grows big and lush onions but the excess nitrogen will result thick necks on them and rather than drying out nicely for long storage they will not keep for long and start rotting from the neck...perfectly good to eat while still fresh though.
Thanks for your replies everyone (I've been offline for a few days, last time I checked I had 4 replies, I check now and I've got 15!)
Looks like the answer to my original question (do I manure my plot every year) is a qualified 'yes'.
Two little details I forgot to add are that for legumes I'd only manure the trenches not the whole patch, and I've got clay soil. [Oh, and up until May 2010 the plot was in a field of barley, so presumably never been manured before.]
:)