Manure!!!!!!!!!!!! Help have I messed up

Is that a Howard Gem ? diesel engine . plot looking well.

 

Hi Perky yes its the Howard Super Gem its has the Hatz diesel good heavy old British beast and best of all it starts easy. Fathers had it for donkeys years, we've always had Howard's when I was younger we used to have the Howard gem with the Sachs diesel engine, smoked like a trooper but had some grunt,



to start it we had to put a lighted wick in the top of the head and if it was feeling kind it started first time if it was in a bad mood it was a right pain to start, it used to chuck me all over the place. This Hatz one once its digging in it more or less would steer it self great piece of kit. Also got a couple of other Howards I think the small ones are called the Howard Batam a little narrow thing and is ideal for going between the rows to keep the weeds down, ones fitted with a honda engine and gets used most of the time



the other small one has the original villiers engine, then there's fathers 5or 6 foot Howard that he put on the back of his tractor I think it called a Selectatilth, good for when he is preparing to do his spuds,



and he also has a Howard rotavator that was made for the Ransomes MG6 crawler they are as rare as hens teeth.



Thanks I also think the plots looking good now, mother’s with the plot this year I have manage to get on top of things for her, I am normally late .

 

Nice one shiney, I have often wondered how well that type worked as they come up for sale now and then. Do they pull themselves along as there are no drive wheels also are they more for soft soil as I can imagine them bouncing on the top of harder ground.

 

The weathers been kind here today so made a start on compacting the area outside of the greenhouse once the sun had warmed up I even had some help from my sister, she got straight to work on using the compactor



while I scratched about on the high spots and added more hardcore on the low spot. Between us both the job didn't take to long, its amazing how time is saved with an extra pair of hands now and then. I then with the forklift got the sand on the area ready to spread in the morning
and moved 3 pallets of block round all ready for a good push tomorrow.

 

Setting out all the pallets of blocks and sand out yesterday save a bit of time today.



I also had a bit of good luck as today my sister took pity on me with the size of the area I was sorting, and after her workout yesterday on the compactor, she decided I needed a hand, she was a big help there was a lot of blocks to lay, plus she is closer to the ground ha ha. I spread the sharp sand first then compacted it, we then set about laying the blocks



our mindset was, if we get half done today that would be good, we were amazed under some very dark grey sky's at times we got the whole lot laid. Its not finished yet as for some stupid reason I thought 1 bag of kiln dried sand would be enough, It was obvious when I started to pour it out I was going to be way off with my calculation, I will pick up some more in the morning, I have also got a little bit to adjust on one end. We managed to keep mother away from the greenhouse for the last few days and this afternoon we called her down to see our progress, it was priceless mother was, lets just say a little emotional with the result. She has a nice little seating area for when she can have her friends over for afternoon tea, and there is plenty of room to put her plants out in the sunshine.





Its been a bit of hard work but its been well worth it, I am now looking forward to a couple of easier days, I might even get to do a bit more on my shepherds hut I am building, now it is near time to go and tuck all the plants in in the greenhouse as tonight's going to be a cold one.

to all

 

Hi all hope your summer is looking good in the garden, ive not posted for a while as been to busy. I have to say it paid dividents putting all the manure in the ground. For the first time ever weve grown some cauliflowers amongst other things, but our first ever cauliflower, mother is well chuffed.there are more not ready yet these are the four I harvested on Sunday



Touch wood the cabbages are doing well at the moment normally it food for the caterpilers, we netted early. Everthing is growing great at the moment.



The patio area outside the greenhouse has been an absolute gem especially when the family has visited. The greenhouse is bursting with tomatoes and I had a bumper crop of strawberries over the past couple of months I made mother and my sisters a nice cream tea plus a bottle of prasecco with some, I admit I had mother make the scones, they loved it.
And to top it off between the sun and the rain I have managed to clad my shepherd hut and get it almost watertight.



to you all

 

Having dealt with by products of horses for over 40 years there is not a great deal I don’t know about it. Such an accolade to be an expert on you know what.
From my experience it is nigh on impossible to put too much manure on vegetable plots. I got an enormous crop of Garlic this season from ground I had heavily manured and my crop of Anya potatoes is huge planted in the same area.
You can put newly “ laid” droppings straight onto beds with no need to wait as long as you keep it away from the stems of any plants. It is the bedding, be that straw shavings or paper which needs rotting down more than the horse dung itself.
You also do not really need to dig it in if applied in the autumn. Leave it on the surface during the winter and then by the spring much of it will have disappeared and the rest will be incorporated when planting. If you are sowing seed then yes it would need dug in.
I do not think people realise just how much a great load of manure will reduce to. Over the 20 years in our current home I must have put over 3ft of manure on the beds, that has reduced to approximately perhaps 6 inches of lovely composted material. Only downside of manure is weeds. Unless you can get it to boiling hot and yes it can be absolutely boiling weed seeds are an issue.
Re the huge number “ red” worms. They are what I call manure worms. I am slightly surprised that the manure is deemed to be quite old as usually manure worms are only present in manure which is not that old. Once coming into contact with soil they disappear. Whether they remove themselves or die I am not sure.
Apart from vegetables like tomatoes grown in the greenhouse and a little Lime I never need to use commercial feeds on my vegetables and get pretty good results. Yes it is harder work dealing with manure than sprinkling the likes of Growmore around but the improved soil structure is a permanent bonus. Horse manure if rotted down has no smell and really isn’t nasty to deal with as being vegetarians unlike the byproducts of the likes of dogs and cats!
Most people who have horses are more than happy to give you as much of their manure heaps as you want.Often they will have to pay for it’s removal so you are in effect possibly doing them a favour. It’s just the transportation of same which could be a snag if you have a nice clean smart car!

 

Hi hailbopp thanks thats very informative, it is really brilliant stuff, and free. Its good to get the low down on it, I shall be getting a few trailer loads more in a few months ready for next year. . I used it on the tomatoes in the greenhouse as well they seem to be doing ok on it.
Honeymoon


Beef ones



I am not the green fingered type but I do like to have a go, this year I planted quite a few tomato plants outside in the plot, I cannot remember the variety but they are growing very well, they are a little tomato probably max 25mm and orange in colour, and very sweet,



the girls cant get enough of them for there salads.

This was our little haul at lunch time today.




Good old neddy

 

Spot on JWK I had to look over my past posts and I planted Sungold and Honeymoon the honeymoon ones are doing well in the greenhouse and the Sungold are outside and growing great.

 

Hello JWK here is the cauliflower variety as best I can make out as I have ripped off the top of the packet and looking back through my files they were first planted as seeds on the 26th of March.





Hope this helps

Cheers Jord

 

Correction JWK the Cauliflowers were first planted as seeds on either the 20 or 21st March and not the 26th as my previous post.



Cheers

Jord