"Mary McHugh" wrote in message
...

If you really put in a pile of not yet rotted manure, it's possible that
a
good number of your plants will die from nitrogen overdose.

I'm not so sure about that. Yes, manure has a bit of nitrogen in it but
not as
much as you might think. OG did an article a few years ago comparing the
amt.
of nitrogen in the different types of manure but with my CRAFT memory, I
don't
recall the exact numbers.

Here we have often put fresh horse manure in the garden with no ill
effects.

Two years ago somebody gave me a (small) truckload, advertised as rotted,
but it wasn't. Lettuce, spinach, basil refused to grow, leaves turned
yellow - symptoms of nitrogen burn. The next year, the same plants were
fine, with no other significant changes. So, I said "it's possible that"...
because it happened to me.