Seed and seedlings straight to well rotted manure?

[ianb]

I have just obtained a large quantity (around 40 very full barrow loads, approx two cubic metres I think) of well-rotted horse manure, very kindly given to me by a lady who grazes her horses on a field which is never treated with any weed killer or similar. It is at least a year old (perhaps more), has no smell and is quite ‘crumbly’ in texture. Charles, I wasn’t sure how to add an image to a forum thread (is it possible?) so have emailed you a photo of a sample of the manure – hope that’s OK.

This is my third year on my allotment plot and, over a long period, have hand-dug every square inch and removed mountains of dock and other weeds ;-( It is clay, but I have added large quantities of organic material (pro-grow, organic farmyard manure, used hops from local brewery) so the condition is quite good now. However, I have never had anywhere near the anount of organic material I now have!

My real problem is that dock and other weeds just keep coming back. I’ll try to keep on top this year with hoeing, but I’d like to put down a 2″ covering of the new load of well-rotted manure in the hope of limiting weed seed germination (I’m hoping that the manure has much lower quantities of weed seed of course!).

I do have some seedlings in trays, but only a few weeks old and I have to admit to being much further behind than I had hoped. I know it’s late, but I’m wondering if I can plant seeds and seedlings straight into the well-rotted manure surface? I suppose I have nothing to loose, but would like to hear peoples thoughts on my proposed plan – is it madness?

If people really do advise againts it, then I have thought of a possible tweak: create a slight channel in the manure, fill with potting compost and plant seeds/seedlings into that – perhaps this would give me the best of both worlds!

Very keen to get the thoughts of more experienced veg growers on this one. I’m sure it’s quite a common scenario for inexperienced growers who have a weedy plot, but are lucky enough to have a large quantity of good quality, well-rotted manure.

Thanks
Ian

[charles]

 Ian, thanks for the pics – I hope soon to have the site on a more powerful system where photos can be uploaded into the forum.

And yes you can sow and plant into this. That is one main point of my gardening method, sowing and planting into a surface enriched with (ideally) year old organic matter, and yours fits the bill. It sounds like you are already doing well and you should find less anual weeds germinating, but there will be some in that manure. However it is easy to scuff around, hoe or whatever on a dry day when you first see tiny seedlings, so they never get established.

I was just picking lettuce on my dig/no dig experiment and the lettuce planted into cow manure yielded 680g compared with 560g on the dug soil, with manure under a spit of inverted turf. Direct-sown carrots and parsnips are coming up fine on both beds.

[Author]

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