Horse manure may be both good and bad
If you can get horse manure, then you have a unique opportunity to enrich your garden with unique nutrients. Horse manure is rich in nitrogen. Leafy greens, garlic, Brussels sprouts, and rhubarb in particular need nitrogen a lot. You can use composted manure as a type of mulch, you can work it into the soil or spread it on your lawn. However, you need to know how to use horse manure to reap the benefits and not harm your garden.
A bad horse manure?
Fresh manure is loaded with a plethora of beneficial nutrients but it also contains plenty of living bacteria and weed seeds. These together may be actually harmful to your garden, especially in the long run. That is why you should prefer composted manure and that is the kind you buy in a bag in garden stores. But you can try making your own if you have fresh manure.
Photo: Pixabay
Composting manure
Pile horse manure into a heap and let it sit like that for at least three months. You can add other ingredients that you would add to a regular compost pile, such as green plants, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, or grass clippings. Keep the pile moist at all times. Turn it weekly to speed up the decomposition process. The pile should reach 80°C and keep this temperature for several weeks to “burn” bacteria and weed seeds. The longer you let the pile burn, the better.
Horse manure and flowering plants
Since horse manure contains a large amount of nitrogen, you should use it as a nitrogen fertilizer. Do not use it on any plants that produce flowers and fruits. . This includes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc. Nitrogen supports the growth and development of greens and not fruit.
How much horse manure you need?
Generally, 9 kg of horse manure is enough for about 1 m3 of soil. The advantage of composted horse manure is that you will not notice the unpleasant odour.
Source:
https://www.ireceptar.cz/zahrada/organicke-hnojeni-jak-pouzivat-hnuj-kravsky-ovci-praseci-konsky-a-slepicince.html
Preview photo: Pixabay
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