This topic contains 6 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by Kevin Anderson 5 years, 5 months ago.
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Becky, I would stack the fresh manure and buy some compost for mulching now.
Fresh manure well stacked now, in good proportions, should heat and could be ready my May.
Leaves can be green or brown depending what leaf they are and whether green or brown in colour… tree leaves November are mostly ‘brown’.
Hay is maybe 70% brown.Hi Becky if it makes you feel any better I did exactly the same! spread horse manure on my beds before i realised it was better to let it rot 1st.
I got some great tips for managing manure (see “dodgy manure” thread) and the stuff I stacked (and have turned twice) looks like it is ready. Certainly there is no smell from it. I think if you “compost” the manure now it may well be ready for spring.
Even if it isn’t quite there you can be happily smug that you have a pile of good stuff waiting for you for next autumn.
Get the cardboard down and at least the weeds will be dying
And welcome! you’ll be surprised by how many novices there are here and also how helpful all the experts are.
Good luck!With that much potential horse manure and effort to move it, I’d consider checking a sample or two for AP content. Someone else on here went to huge lengths to shift tonnes of rotted horse manure only to find it was all contaminated with AP. Just sayin…
Hello Becky.
If you have 40 horses at your farm, you are in manure heaven!
My suggestion for the long-term: build yourself a series of bins to manage the manure, bedding etc.
Within half a year the effort and expense of building bins etc. will be rewarded by compost suitable for “no dig gardening”.
Have a look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_yWQATxNI
This might help to get you started.
All compost making, in my experience, is an attempt to optimise (i) raw materials input, (ii) labour to collect, assemble and turn (at least twice) the raw materials, (iii) cost of bins, (iv) time to mature, and (v) use the finished product.
If time and energy permits, any photographs of your arrangement, inputs and finished product would be warmly welcomed (in my opinion) by all readers of this forum.
If it helps, and as a guide for your endeavours, a cubic metre of inputs (horse manure, bedding, straw, sawdust etc.) will give you slightly less than half a cubic metre of finished product, suitable for applying on the surface of your garden area. (In other words, to spread a cubic metre of finished, mature compost, you will probably need slightly more than 2 cubic metres of raw inputs, plus 4 to 6 months of time.)
Please keep us informed of progress, if time and energy permits.
Good luck with your compost making and “no dig gardening” adventure!
Kevin
Tasmania (41 deg. south, with a blustery maritime climate, close to Bass Strait)
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