On the subject of horse manure

I picked up a bag from down the road last spring. About 3 months ago, I spread it all over the garden in lumps, because that it how it was. A few weeks ago, the gardener at work said to me that I would be very sorry if the manure was not at least 3 years old, as I would have weed-infested borders, particularly fat hen. I paused to consider and realized I do not have any idea how old the manure is.

Lumps are lying on my borders and do not appear to have broken down with all the frosts we have had, so I'm thinking it's too fresh, so I have been out today gathering loads of it up again.

So, the question is.......to leave it, or gather the lumps up and leave for another year or two, or put the lumps in the compost bin????

 

IMHO keeping it for 3 years is Tommy Rot! Sure, if you have a constant supply and can stack it then all well and good, but a lot of the goodness will have been washed out by the rain in that time (if the pile is "open").

My prefered approach would be to put the manure through the compost heap - i.e. mixed with everything else that you compost; the manure will accelerate the heap (raise temperature, introduce "good" bugs), and that will make it all rot down faster; in the Summer it may be well composted in 6 weeks! but 6 months would be normal - so everything from now to, say, June/July will be ready for use spreading on your beds next Winter.

Fresh manure is likely to be too rich to be good for the plants - and is likely to "burn" stems / roots of plants that it comes into contact with.

The frost won't do anything to it (well rotted, or not). The worms will pull it down into the soil, which is a Good Thing. They won't do it overnight though!

But having said that I'm not sure I'd be too worried. I would definitely pull it well away from plant stems. If there is nothing in the beds at the moment let the worms work on it during the winter. When you plant in the Spring pull any muck well away from the new plants; if there is not enough space to do that then remove what you have to, at that time, and put that on your compost heap.

Others may disagree though ...

 

P.S. Check with the supplier that there is no chance of there being residues of the Herbicide aminopyralid in the muck - a search here will give you chapter and verse on "why"

 

I agree with Kristen's approach.

All I would add is that weeds that are propagated by seeds which can survive the digestive tract of a large animal are generally easy to spot and dig out. It's the weeds that spread by roots and bulbils (convolvulus and oxalis come to mind) that drive you crazy!

 

I always had horses nearby and used lots of manure in the garden, also the old garden. My approach was always... very fresh manure: to the compost, or over the ground in autumn in patches where nothing was planted. Medium old manure, over the ground, at some distance from plants. Old manure, anywhere needed. Old manure improves the structure of the soil, but adds very little in nutrients.
Fresh stable cleanings (wet straw, or shavings etc) are full of urine, not just poo (sorry) and therefore very very rich in nitrogen. They will boost the composter, or enrich a patch where nothing yet is planted (future kitchen garden and so). This kind of manure does not rob the ground of nitrogen while rotting, being so rich of it itself, but it will fry any plants to mush, so it is only to be used for PREPARING the ground.

Oh the cruel irony: now I have endless supply of horse manure from my own stable, and I am not going to garden any more (well, for a while)!

As for weed seeds in the manure it would also depends on what kind of feed the horses get!

 

Thanks, folks, very informative. I'll take your advice, kristen.