How many square metres of ground can you cover with 5cm manure per tonne of delivery?

[RhysParticipant]

I”m doing some online research trying to find sources of manure for delivery and it seems that you buy it by the tonne.

If our garden is 100 square metres and we expect 60 – 70 square metres to be used productively in growing areas, how many tonnes would that equate to??

I’ve just bought two of your books and am wading my way through the first one, although we’ve been having a go at no-dig on various bits of the garden for 18 months now. The soil structure has been improved by growing potatoes and by sieving last year to remove voluminous amounts of stones. We don’t dig, but a fork will go down to a full depth without needing to stand on it now.

Appreciate the information as ordering too much would be rather silly at this stage!

[charlesModerator]

 Well done on progress so far.

Establishing tonnes per square metres is my least favourite calculation because of the variable quality of manure, and of how one measures its depth. For example cow manure tends to hold more moisture than horse and therefore weighs more per volume. Then a 5cm layer becomes 3cm after one month in many cases, depending also on how fluffy the manure was.

Bering that in mind, about three tonnes is my best estimate. However I tend to over-order as I have space to store any spare, and prefer that to running out. So two tonnes may do it.

[RhysParticipant]

I think I came to a number between 2 and 4 tonnes so it’s good to know that a more experienced practitioner than me reaches a similar sort of number.

Thanks for your reply: I really appreciate it.

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