I am a novice allotment holder and have just emptied 3 sacks of fresh horse manure into 2 beds that have just been dug over in readiness for my first earlies of potatoes. However, someone told me that this was not a good idea. Have my good intentions caused me a problem, or can I compensate this by digging through some well rotted manure? Advice from someone would be gratefully accepted.
Fresh manure often isn't best as it will draw nutrience (Nitrogen mainly) from the soil to assist in breaking down. Old manure will stabilise it a little but in future I'd recomend allowing manure to sit in a pile and adding older mulch and allowing it to compost a little before applying. Give your new bed a couple of weeks before planting. With potatoes you will need to raise the bed and bury fresh growth once it's about a foot high for best results.
I remember growing spuds a long time ago, The first thing I remember is no fresh horse manure! I think it was supposed to encourage scab.... But I also remember fresh horse manure as a "hot" manure from a single stomached animal who may not have digested all the seeds and can contribute to a lot of weeds for that reason. I like mine cooked a bit, in a compost heap first! As for the spuds, I always added a hearty sprinkle of wood ashes befose I turned the soil for a final time befor planting. Hey I'm an old wife - am I remembering an "old wives' tale"?
S.S. is correct about fresh manure drawing out nitrogen from the soil and Anne Taylor is correct about uncomposted horse manure potentially having lots of viable weed seeds. The solution to both problems is to compost the horse manure or only pick-up composted horse manure. ____ Manure Maiden www.manurelink.com
