Spring Garden Preperation adding a layer of manure

I got a truckload of horse manure at the end of last summer. I let it compost as much as I could over the winter and spread a layer about an inch thick over the garden. Hopefully it will sink into the soil during the spring rain and make it a little better than last year. Last year was our first summer in this house so the garden was more of a test garden to see what would do best. We started 3 apple trees, and had more cucumbers than we knew what to do with. We still have a few jars of pickles left. Other than that the garden was just so so. I know people say that horse manure isn't great due to the seeds and weeds it creates, but to me it's better than nothing, and I have been letting the hens scratch through it and eat as many as possible. Plus, I really don't mind weeding that much, and I give the weeds to the chickens anyway. Last fall I already rototilled in the compost and chicken manure so this is just a little extra. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• garden
• fertilzer
• manure
• horse
• chicken
• hen
• chickens
• preperation
• homestead
• smallholding
• hobby
• farm
• small
• rototiller

[Praxxus55712]

It may be a little work to weed the garden due to the horse manure......BUT, on the bright side, it's a great fertilyzer and the weeds can be composted and tossed back into the garden as compost! Not bad at all! :)

[dipswell]

yeah, the price was right anyway, haha

[HLCpromow]

Are you going to till than in or let it just sit and weep down??

[dipswell]

I tilled it in the fall, but I own a nice big tiller and will only take me a few minutes to do the whole thing if I have to, but I'll see how it does without.

[DeadEyeRabbit]

so how did it do?