Monday 13 February 2012

The manure has arrived

JW with manure heap Feb 12

Not the best job to have to do but we have taken delivery of 5 tonnes of cow manure from a local farm. It was dumped as a heap in the car park of the allotment site and we have to shovel it into wheelbarrows and shift it about 50 metres to the allotment where we are in the process of spreading it onto the ground. It has to be done or otherwise we risk exhausting the land.

4 comments:

elfriide tramm said...

manure is a good thing, especially if it's with straw like your heap (in Estonia many farms use peat nowadays, but it's not that good). i managed to buy an elephant manure from zoo last year, very good, not used antibiotics, growth hormones etc they use in many farms.

is this manure fresh or composted? it's important not to use fresh manure, otherwise it will burn the plants. in old days the manure was laid to fields in the autumn and winter with a snow made it mature and suitable for next spring. nowadays composting is used - manure just stays in a heap for a year and then used.

also seaweed used as a substitute for a manure in coast regions. actually it's even better as a very rich with minerals. nowadays a sea pollution also, of course.

Anonymous said...

I found a full sized 1950's gas cooker in my allotment compost heap last month. It didn't spread very well on my veggy beds. Jules
p.s have fun shovelling!

elfriide tramm said...

btw, i wanted to thank you for the idea of using some "gardenwaste" for making stocks etc. i used to juice broccoli and cauliflower leaves, but from leak we also made good stock after seeing your videos. also - do you know how good material for stock are empty pea pods? fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Noooooo!!!!!Did the manure pile get you? Quick someone grab a spade. Manure avalanche ! Haha . We're missing you here in blogland Jonathan. Come back soon . Jules