So I've dug these 4' deep by 5' diameter pits in order to put soil into my
potato tire towers. A kind friend gave me a load of reasonably dry horse
manure, which nicely filled the pits back up to grade level. What do I do
with this stuff now? Keep it moist so it will rot? Cover it with dirt? Put
wood shavings on top? Buy some worms and let'em loose? The surrounding soil,
by the way, is compacted sand - it drains well, but is stable enough to
maintain a vertical hole as deep as I care to dig...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Dick Lovering

writes:
So I've dug these 4' deep by 5' diameter pits in order to put soil into my
potato tire towers. A kind friend gave me a load of reasonably dry horse
manure, which nicely filled the pits back up to grade level. What do I do
with this stuff now? Keep it moist so it will rot? Cover it with dirt? Put
wood shavings on top? Buy some worms and let'em loose? The surrounding
soil,
by the way, is compacted sand - it drains well, but is stable enough to
maintain a vertical hole as deep as I care to dig...

You are very fortunate, Dick, for such a gift. If you have plants to
spread a thin layer around, use it for that. You can just leave it in a
pile for future use. No need to keep it moist, it'll take care of itself.
As for the worms, they will come, no need to purchase any. The horse
manure I'm fortunate enough to get for my garden includes and unbelievable
amount of earthworms; they are doing their thing. After the worms are
finished with it, the "product" is the richest soil a person could desire.
You might want to just leave it in a pile and add it to the pits you
have filled now; the manure in the pits will shrink as the earthworms work
on them, as well as the rain settling it through the coming months.

You can certainly start a compost bin with it, using just fence wire as
the bin if you wish, and start laying horse manure and vegetative matter.
You will have potting soil that will be the envy of your gardening friends.

The horse manure I've been fortunate to get in past years had a generous
supply of oak leaves in it and was several months aged so it was
absolutely premium to spread on the garden and rototill in for the current
season.

Just my thoughts and my experience.

Glenna

Glenna Rose wrote:

writes:
So I've dug these 4' deep by 5' diameter pits in order to put soil into my
potato tire towers. A kind friend gave me a load of reasonably dry horse
manure, which nicely filled the pits back up to grade level. What do I do
with this stuff now? Keep it moist so it will rot? Cover it with dirt? Put
wood shavings on top? Buy some worms and let'em loose? The surrounding
soil,
by the way, is compacted sand - it drains well, but is stable enough to
maintain a vertical hole as deep as I care to dig...

You are very fortunate, Dick, for such a gift. If you have plants to
spread a thin layer around, use it for that. You can just leave it in a
pile for future use. No need to keep it moist, it'll take care of itself.
As for the worms, they will come, no need to purchase any. The horse

I've just (in mid-May) put a trench into my front herb garden and filled
it with 3 m3 horseshit, supplied by my neighbor - who keeps horses. The
manure is nicely burned, been in the manure heap below the stables since
last year.

I put about 20 cm of soil (the soil I had dug out to make the trench in
the first place) On top of the heap of steaming brown stuff, after which I
replanted my herbs.

The result is a hotbed, and can't be done in autumn: the plants may not
have time to reroot and get ready for winter, and in fact the heat from
below fools them into thinking that summer is still going strong, even
in late autumn, so even if they had time they won't get winter-ready.

I have _enormous_ leaves on my biennials this year. That's milk thistle,
clary sage, and similar. I'm a tad concerned that the soil might be
too rich for some of the herbs, but so far no casualties, beyond the ones
that were due to dug-up plants being parked on newspaper for the two weeks
I was busy digging.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod/main.html

Dear Glenna and Henriette,
Thanks for your prompt and useful information. As my garden evolves, I'll
use the aged manure more and more. Wish I could send you some potatoes-
they're going to be impressive...
Dick Lovering

"Henriette Kress" wrote in message
newsan.2003.07.02.20.11.17.418031@hetta...
Glenna Rose wrote:

writes:
So I've dug these 4' deep by 5' diameter pits in order to put soil into
my
potato tire towers. A kind friend gave me a load of reasonably dry horse
manure, which nicely filled the pits back up to grade level. What do I
do
with this stuff now? Keep it moist so it will rot? Cover it with dirt?
Put
wood shavings on top? Buy some worms and let'em loose? The surrounding
soil,
by the way, is compacted sand - it drains well, but is stable enough to
maintain a vertical hole as deep as I care to dig...

You are very fortunate, Dick, for such a gift. If you have plants to
spread a thin layer around, use it for that. You can just leave it in a
pile for future use. No need to keep it moist, it'll take care of
itself.
As for the worms, they will come, no need to purchase any. The horse

I've just (in mid-May) put a trench into my front herb garden and filled
it with 3 m3 horseshit, supplied by my neighbor - who keeps horses. The
manure is nicely burned, been in the manure heap below the stables since
last year.

I put about 20 cm of soil (the soil I had dug out to make the trench in
the first place) On top of the heap of steaming brown stuff, after which I
replanted my herbs.

The result is a hotbed, and can't be done in autumn: the plants may not
have time to reroot and get ready for winter, and in fact the heat from
below fools them into thinking that summer is still going strong, even
in late autumn, so even if they had time they won't get winter-ready.

I have _enormous_ leaves on my biennials this year. That's milk thistle,
clary sage, and similar. I'm a tad concerned that the soil might be
too rich for some of the herbs, but so far no casualties, beyond the ones
that were due to dug-up plants being parked on newspaper for the two weeks
I was busy digging.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod/main.html

I planted asparagus in mine, after putting about 2 inches of dirt on top of
the manure. Then as the asparagus started growing, I kept adding dirt until
I had about 6 inches on top of the asparagus roots. Boy is it good eating.
You are going to get stuff growing from the manure unless you cover it for
awhile to keep it from getting sunlight..

Dwayne

"Richard Lovering" wrote in message
...
Dear Glenna and Henriette,
Thanks for your prompt and useful information. As my garden evolves, I'll
use the aged manure more and more. Wish I could send you some potatoes-
they're going to be impressive...
Dick Lovering

"Henriette Kress" wrote in message
newsan.2003.07.02.20.11.17.418031@hetta...
Glenna Rose wrote:

writes:
So I've dug these 4' deep by 5' diameter pits in order to put soil
into
my
potato tire towers. A kind friend gave me a load of reasonably dry
horse
manure, which nicely filled the pits back up to grade level. What do I
do
with this stuff now? Keep it moist so it will rot? Cover it with dirt?
Put
wood shavings on top? Buy some worms and let'em loose? The surrounding
soil,
by the way, is compacted sand - it drains well, but is stable enough
to
maintain a vertical hole as deep as I care to dig...

You are very fortunate, Dick, for such a gift. If you have plants to
spread a thin layer around, use it for that. You can just leave it in
a
pile for future use. No need to keep it moist, it'll take care of
itself.
As for the worms, they will come, no need to purchase any. The horse

I've just (in mid-May) put a trench into my front herb garden and filled
it with 3 m3 horseshit, supplied by my neighbor - who keeps horses. The
manure is nicely burned, been in the manure heap below the stables since
last year.

I put about 20 cm of soil (the soil I had dug out to make the trench in
the first place) On top of the heap of steaming brown stuff, after which
I
replanted my herbs.

The result is a hotbed, and can't be done in autumn: the plants may not
have time to reroot and get ready for winter, and in fact the heat from
below fools them into thinking that summer is still going strong, even
in late autumn, so even if they had time they won't get winter-ready.

I have _enormous_ leaves on my biennials this year. That's milk thistle,
clary sage, and similar. I'm a tad concerned that the soil might be
too rich for some of the herbs, but so far no casualties, beyond the
ones
that were due to dug-up plants being parked on newspaper for the two
weeks
I was busy digging.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki,
Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage:
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD:
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod/main.html

writes:
I planted asparagus in mine, after putting about 2 inches of dirt on top
of
the manure. Then as the asparagus started growing, I kept adding dirt
until
I had about 6 inches on top of the asparagus roots. Boy is it good
eating.
You are going to get stuff growing from the manure unless you cover it for
awhile to keep it from getting sunlight..

Dwayne

I bet you have some super stuff there! I read that asparagus should be
bedded for winter with aged horse manure and try to remember to do that.
I'm hoping for good harvestable (more than a couple of spears) this next
spring. :-)

writes:
Dear Glenna and Henriette,
Thanks for your prompt and useful information. As my garden evolves, I'll
use the aged manure more and more. Wish I could send you some potatoes-
they're going to be impressive...
Dick Lovering

I wish you could also! Wouldn't it be great if we could all get together
one weekend and share our most favorite product of the year?!

Glenna