"terryc" wrote in message
On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:17:59 +1100, FarmI wrote:


:-)) I don't limit myself. I use cow poop, horse poop, blood and bone,
pelleted chook poop, bagged cow poop, seasol, 'Sudden Impact for Roses',
Blood and bone with added sulphate of potash, compost, rotted leaves and
anything else that comes to hand including elephant poop which grew the
best corn we've had yet. I also use fire ash and dolomite, rice hulls,
lucern chaff, hay and lucerne straw.

How much does all this cost each year?
In the last five years, "chicken manure" (floorscrappings from chicken
raising sheds) has doubled in price. This all sounds very expensive.

Not a lot - in fact I think my garden is cheaper than any of my other
hobbies if I dont' count the plants I buy.

We have our own cows, I own chooks, a neighbour has at least 20 horses (and
alpacas - I forgot to mention their poop - they poo in piles). The elephant
poo was free when the circus came to a town near us and the local radio
asked for gardeners to pick it up - I was first there with my ute.

I last bought a big bucket of Blood & bone (now nearly finished) about 4
years ago and the plastic bags of Suphate of Potash aren't extortionate. I
last bought a BIG bag of pelleted chicken poop I think at the beginning of
last Spring and it's just about done now and I need more. I buy the 'Sudden
Impact for Roses' in a huge box and that is the most expensive thing I buy
but I believe it's worth it.

The rice hulls I buy in a bale - dunno how much that is. Lucerne is
expensive but it's THe best thing IMHO for mulching tiny seelding and it
also feeds the ground - I think it's about $18-25/bag but the bags are huge.

Compost and leaves are free and I even collect them from a Guild I belong to
that has about 6 mature Oaks in the yard. they love me to collect them as
the gardener rakes and bags them and if I take them they don't have to pay
to take them to the tip.

I also buy hay bales and use them round beds and after a season I break them
up and spred them as muclch. I just bought a new lot and they cost me about
$80 or $90 for 9 bales.

I have a big garden on poor soil which is finally starting to improve
and I feed it by direct fertilising, by mulching and with scavenging.

Works, but can take a few years to start getting decent crops.

My first veg garden was about 6ft long and 3 ft wide and the plants were
pathetic. I now have a veg garden with some fruit trees too that is bigger
than many townhouse plots and it's now very productive. That's taken about
17 years to get to it's current stage doing it a bit at a time but it gets
more productive each year. I also have an orchard which also serves as the
day run for the chooks and it'd be about a quarter of an acre and it seldom
gets any fertilising because of the chooks.