In message , Sacha
writes
On 2012-02-06 14:28:33 +0000, Jim xzy said:

I've recently converted part of the wild field that was my back garden,
into vegetable beds. I dug in a fair amount of last year's compost into the
clayey soil, but I think the soil still needs more organic matter, as it is
still rather sticky. It's also very alkaline due to the limestone shale
substrate.
I have just been given a good quantity of horse stable manure. As
there is
still a good few weeks before I start planting, will I be OK to dig the
manure into the soil without composting it? It appears to be predominantly
part-digested hay with some urine-soaked hay mixed in. It all appears to be
a good few weeks old. It's not like the well-digested horse droppings that
you tyipcally find on the road where horse-riders have been.
TIA
Jim

If it's going to be a few weeks before you plant, you're probably safe
to dig it in now. If it was going onto emerging plants, the urine
might 'burn' it. But do check the horses haven't been grazed on fields
that were sprayed with the weedkiller that killed off so many plants in
gardens and allotments a few years ago. I forget its name but the
damage was well-documented.

Aminopyralid
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley