Horse Manure

Is horse plop suitable for flower beds might sound like a stupid question but I have no idea what type of manure is bought in bags from the shop.

I plan on using it for beds for Dahlias next year as I can get a tonne of it for nothing.

 

Yep good for next year.
Just let it rot down and heat up for a while this summer.

 

Some times, depening on the stables, you may get some weed seed come in the poo

 

Having a manure making machine I am at all times attempting to get rid of the never ending heap of the stuff. I also have a steady stream of keen gardening neighbours who appear with bags to get some.
I don't altogether agree as to having to wait to use it as if you use it as a mulch ie on top of the beds then it can be hours old! as long as you don't get it too close to the stems of plants. Worms will drag the manure down into the earth and it will disappear in a relatively short time. Using fresh manure can be a bit weedy if the "makers" are grazing during the summer months and ingesting all sorts of weeds and their seeds.
If the manure you are getting is from horses bedded on shavings then it is definitely preferable to leave the manure to rot as much as possible before use. Straw mixed in is quicker and paper the quickest.
I have beds in my garden that have been heavily manured for 13 years and now have about 6 inches of what looks almost peat like and my plants do grow BIG. I also grow Dahlias and they will absolutely love as much manure as you can give them being gross feeders. I don't bother with any other feed for mine as they grow huge enough.
Most stables are more than happy to give away their manure. While it is quite hard work to deal with you will see huge benefits in time. I hate to think what my garden would be like if it hadn't benefitted from being well fed!

 

Can I ask a connected question?
Most of the stables here seem to have contracts with local farmers to remove the muck on a regular basis. So there are no old heaps for us to raid.

If I were to get some bags of the fresh stuff (actually going to ask at a local stables today - scarey, as if I get my vocabulary wrong, could be embarrassing / insulting) would it be ok to layer it through my compost bins, or should I try to set up a separate heap? Just add it to my growing compost bin, or as a "cap" for my rotting bin? (Obviously not to my "nearly ready to use" bin).

 

You'll be fine @Sian in Belgium. Sorry but I don't know what is the Flemish equivalent for manure/dung just don't ask for horse sh1t, that might not go down too well!Most stables I know will welcome you with open arms to help get rid of a "problem". A horse does anything between 8 and 14 loads a day depending on whether they are purely fed grass/hay or are having hard feed (oat, barley etc) so they aren't going to miss a few bags. I'd tend to put the "hot" manure in with your growing compost as it could well act as an accelerator to what's already there.

 

Thanks @silu !

It seemed a silly question, but I've never used "raw" manure before. In the UK, stables seem to have always had old stacks/heaps for us keen gardeners to raid.

I have located two stables very near. One very posh, the other doesn't even have a website. Both seem to be French-speaking, (we are right next to the language border) so I will see what google translate can come up with. Wish me luck!!

 

Good luck @Sian in Belgium . It doesn't matter whether the producers of said manure are Derby winners or the local donkey, it's all the same despite what snobby owners might think! In Belgium there is a big breeding programme for mainly showjumping horses which are quite popular over here. Most of the Dutch and Belgium Warmblood horses are descendants of the heavy horses used on farms crossed with thoroughbreds or other lighter boned horses to produce strong jumping horses which aren't built for speed like racehorses.

 

7 sacks of fresh horse manure loaded into the growing bin - thinking about going back for some more!! That way we only get a smelly car, and a smelly Sian, once!!

 

Oh yes I've got that problem too @shiney! I sometimes try and work out which takes longer, the extra weeding that I'd have to do if I hadn't mulched or picking up what the flaming Blackbirds have scattered everywhere. As I have to keep the manure heap from becoming gargantuan the beds still get vast quantities put on them and the Blackbirds have a field day!

 

@silu
Could this be newspaper that's mixed with the manure.

Just how must manure can I add I have a 13 by 3 ft 2 high wooden planter that needs filling.

Thanks for the replies.
Not really a planter it has no bottom more a raised bed.

 

It can be newspaper that's used as bedding but not always. Never seen the shiny supplement type stuff though as not absorbent.Personally I've never used it but seen it often enough. I use anything up to about 9 ins on my beds and by that I mean 9ins deep covering the whole bed. I'd have thought you could fill the planter with about 2ft 6ins of soil and make up the rest with manure. if you are going to do this soon and leave it till next season to use, the manure will shrink by a good 1/3 by the time it has fully composted down so you might be able to top up the planter before planting. I also use garden compost and leaf mould as a way of augmenting topsoil if short

 

Thanks silu
I also have been collecting leave mould and have compost bin working away really looking forward to next year growing lots of Dahlias.