Grow Your Own Magazine

I have taken on a new plot but missed the delivery of the manure.
Does anyone know how my potatoes, beans, peas, squash & sweet corn will fare with only blood, fish & bone feed? I have started off a compost bin with veg, coffee & tea however will not be ready for a while.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

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Nature Girl

you could use chicken pellets instead. I didn't use anything at all last year and grew quite a few things ok

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Belgrave-allotments.co.uk

THANK YOU, i WILL LOOK IN THE LOTTIE SHOP FOR THESE PELLETS.

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Nature Girl

I'm no expert though. don't put any with carrots.

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Belgrave-allotments.co.uk

I've not bothered with any manure (no car, don't want to fill up my bike panniers with pony poo) and I get good crops each year. My compost heap doesn't get spread around the allotment...too much hard work...I plant hungry plants into the heap.
Obviously, well-rotted manure will improve the soil, and feeding a plant will improve its performance. Unless your soil is absolutely carp, I wouldn't worry for now. Get some when you can
(I use comfrey tea as a fertiliser...it has more potassium than manure).

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Hi nature girl, nice to meet you.
I bet your lottie wasn't cultivated fully last year, and therefore you should find that the soil will be ok. We didn't put any on ours the first year as it was vacant for two years before we got it.
You might try what one of our Italian neighbours does and put veg peelings/clippings/compost material straight into the soil, and maybe plant a green manure crop to add some nutrients.
Don't worry too much, it takes a lot of cultivation to make soil unproductive.
Get some manure next time and you'll be fine.

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Regards, Jane
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? The creative adult is the child who has survived.
Ursula LeGuin
http://www.etribes.com/madderbat

Today, I have added 1 bag of coffee ground to an area before planting some garlic cloves. So, planting started!!! Hurrah!!!

I will try the comfrey tea thing also as it sounds v. interesting & beer for the squash as I did last year.

I have in the past planted banana skins under beans following manure so if I don't get any manure I will probably do this again. I am however only adding a few potato peelings to the compost as the whole heap was a mass of potato plants last year!

Thank you for the advice.

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Nature Girl

Good way of growing potatoes, though. We've grown butternut squash and courgettes on the compost heap and they do really well. You don't absolutely need to add manure - it's better as a soil conditioner than a feed, but if your plants start looking a bit tired give them a liquid feed (seaweed or comfrey are good)

This sounds like a good idea. I have bought powdered blood, fish & bone. This sounds awful! Do you use this?

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Nature Girl

Blood fish and bone is a standard basic fertiliser, has been used since the year dot, I think. It is organic in that it is made from animal ingredients, but you may need to think what those animals have been fed on or treated with (hormones, antibiotics, etc). You also need to use gloves when applying it (this is advised on the pack and makes me wonder exactly why). I don't use it myself, I have three good compost heaps and lots of guinea pig poo. Bonfire ash is a good source of potassium for spreading around permanent plantings of fruit bushes and trees. I try to compost all soft waste, but inevitably end up with some stuff that needs burning, especially diseased fruit prunings. Once burnt the ash is sterile and can be used.

Manure is more of a soil conditioner than a feed. I'm not agreeing with farming methods, but if you look to the fields, very few farmers apply manure and they get good crops.
National growmore is a cheap 7-7-7 fertiliser giving equal amounts of the three main nutrients NPK and was brought out to coincide with the 'dig for victory' campaign of WW2, so has stood the test of time!
There are also organic alternatives ie blood, fish and bone meal!

For this year any of the above should suffice but everyone should have there own compost heap and compost everything they can! Next year a load of manure will help to restore the soil structure and get those microbes working for you!

PS One of the allotment holders on our site just had a load of muck delivered today, so it's never too late!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I agree with the others...If your plot has been 'dormant ' for a while- it will take a couple of years- maybe 3 - to be deficient of the minerals you need .
Esp if you are rotating on a 3 yr cycle.
We have a peat based soil and have added the manure today to the raised beds.
Normally one would add muck in the autumn and add lime in the spring ( yet to do!!!)
Every soil has different needs, and if you provide the basics at some stage, the soil will still perform to it's best.
Best just to get on and adapt next year..and the next ...ane the next!!!!!

Oh....and hello by the way!!!!!

Great advice! I will be carefull of the BFB & have a go with the other products & methods mentioned above. I think I will still pop some poo deep under the squash & beans though to help the soil retain water. I am glad I now know the real reaon for adding manure.

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Nature Girl

Get some growmore and rake it into the soil before planting anything. That should give your plants a boost.

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And when you're back stops aching,
And you're hands begin to harden.
You will find yourself a partner,
In the glory of the garden.

Rudyard Kipling.

I have started with the shallott & onion sets & garlic that do not require manure.

Next I am going to plant my potatoes & hav ordred a few bags of horse manure from the local sanctuary which is the prefered poo of some of the lottie holders.
I have bought some growmore also.

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Nature Girl

I think this is a general super-cautious warning - if you look at a bag of bought potting compost it says the same - as if we haven't got the sense to wash compost etc. off our hands before we eat!!!

Vik

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Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes

http://viks-garden.blogspot.com/