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Help? Green horse manure all over my veg plot!

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  • #1

    Help? Green horse manure all over my veg plot!

    A helpful neighbour has just dumped 2 whole digger-buckets full of horse manure all over my freshly-dug veg patch - I was about to plant carrots and spuds, should I give up on the plan? The stuff is two or three inches thick all over - maybe I could just dig it in and go ahead anyway? Or could I get away with covering it with black plastic for a couple of weeks? I am up in the wilds of north Donegal, ireland, soil peaty and acidic.
    Thanks for any help
    Desperate Annie!
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  • #2
    fresh manure? It will burn your plants. Stack it and allow it to rot for 6-18 months before you use it
    All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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    • #3
      You can really do without 'helpful' people, can't you?
      Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

      www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 9th - Spring

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Flummery View Post
        You can really do without 'helpful' people, can't you?
        But do you think I can plant spuds in it anyway? Was just reading an American website where they seem to think it's fine to use fresh manure?

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        • #5
          Annie,

          if it is fresh horse manure, it will be very hot or have the potential to become very hot as it breaks down in the composting process so growing anything in it will be difficult. The advice to stack it and leave it for at least 6 months is good. Look on the bright side. You have some really useful stuff for next year.

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          • #6
            If it's only 2-3" deep, I'd rake/fork it to one side where you want to stick your spuds in. When compost is spread thinnly, it doesn't really get very hot, certainly not as hot as when it is in a heap, but then again, it takes longer to break down.

            In my case, I add fresh strawy manure to my potato beds in a 3-4" layer in the winter before the spuds go in that gives it about 3-4 months to break down, although in the latest case, when I put it on after the parsnips are cleared it might only be on about a month before I'm planting out. I always seem to get good potato crops.

            On the other side of the coin, I wouldn't put your carrots anywhere near!

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            • #7
              ...oh - and welcome to the Vine!

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              • #8
                Thank you everybody for your quick replies, I'll scrape it all off then before planting my roosters! What does manure do to carrots though, do they just grow a load of leaves and no root? Does this mean it would be good for my spinach-beet as it is?

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                • #9
                  Carrots produce forked roots in freshly manured ground - not what you want at all.
                  I treasure manured beds on my plot as they are ideal for pumpkins and squashes. Beans like it too.
                  Whooops - now what are the dogs getting up to?

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                  • #10
                    When you have raked manure to side cover with black plastic make some holes in it and plant courgettes and pumkins.

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