horse manure for the garden

Someone leaves manure from their horses once a week at our community garden. All the gardeners scramble to collect this and dump it on their gardens. Today I joined in. I shoveled a wheelbarrow full and brought it to my frozen garden. I spread it out in the center. It needs to compost, but should provide good nutrients in the spring.

Only problem is Skippy. I don't know what is so exciting about horse manure to a dog. Bllaagghhhh. Oh yuck... I may need to skip the horse manure thing next time.

horse manure for the garden

I used horse manure in my garden recently but a fellow gardener suggested it was not so good as a compost or mulch. From what I read on line, it seems that there are several reasons to skip this manure as it contains weeds seeds, deworming drugs, herbicides and high Mg levels.

Ann's Organic Garden: Just say nay to horse manure for mulch, by Ann Lovejoy


topic: soil

more horse manure

I collected another wheelbarrow full of horse manure for my garden today. I'm pleased to be accumulating a good layer of this. The good news is that Skippy refrained from eating it today. The bad news is that he decided to roll in it. It seems to be very cool stuff to a dog. Does he look a bit embarrassed in this photo? At least he's clean.

horse manure for the garden

a nice fresh pile of horse manure

I still can't get over how great it is that a local horse owner brings his extra *** to the community gardens. A fresh big pile today.

Skippy has gotten very grown up about the pile. No more rolling in it or eating it. He gives a brief sniff and moves on.

So I shoveled a barrowful, maneuvered to my plot, and dumped it onto the bed that will grow my popcorn next year. Such pleasure to think about what will grow next year.....

mid winter gardening

Skippy and I took a walk at through the community garden plots yesterday. A local horse owner is still kindly dropping off manure, so I went ahead and collected some for my garden. I couldn't open my garden gate because of the snow, but was able to reach over my fence and grab my plastic wheelbarrow. I gathered one load in this, but it was difficult to lift it and dump the load over my 5 foot fence. I did manage to do it once. It was somewhat of a help that my 5 ft fence is now only 4 ft (with a foot of snow on the ground). But frozen manure is heavy and 4 ft is still high to lift an awkward, if cheap and light, wheelbarrow.

For the next load, I remembered the small toy box in the trunk of my car. I had picked this up from someone's trash the other day thinking it would be a good bench and storage box in my garden. (Don't tell anyone I've been picking through the trash... but I do love to see things recycled and I have been looking for a garden bench.) It was the perfect manure carrier. The lid was a good scoop. And it was much easier to carry the load in a small box than to drag my wheelbarrow over the snow covered garden paths. So I brought another load and dumped it over the fence.

I left the box next to my fence where I can reach it for the next time. In the spring, I will spread the manure and turn it in. I hope the child who owned the little toy box doesn't find out its being used to carry horse poo. Oh well. My plants will love it. And I'll hose down the box and I think it will still make a very nice bench plus storage box.

A long story about not much, but its very exciting to have done even a little garden work in the middle of winter!

mulching with hay

I'd like to cover all my beds for the winter - to protect the soil microbes.

So I went to my plot today to spread the last of my hay. Two garlic plots are already mulched. And another bed is already covered with popcorn stalks.

Uncovered beds I noticed were the new asparagus bed, planted this spring. And my perennial bed with rhubarb, rose, thyme and oregano. I spread the last of the hay on these.

If I get a chance to buy more hay, I will. It would be good to cover a couple more beds.

I'm covering next year's heavy feeder beds with a layer of fresh horse manure, compost and winter rye. Three are done and one is still waiting for this. The perennials and the light feeder beds aren't getting these amendments. They're the ones to mulch with hay.

spring at my plot

These photos are from Sunday. I was excited to see all the plants starting to grow. My little red tulip is in full bloom. Daffodil buds are coming up. The rhubarb is poking up. Garlic looks nice after the long winter. I couldn't see any pea sprouts, so I dug up a seed. They're coming along. I bet they'll be up in a couple days. No asparagus sprouts yet.

I did a bit of garden work. We brought a few loads of horse manure and spread it on the beds that will grow squashes and corn this year. And I weeded and cleaned up the asparagus bed.

Skippy dug himself a nice hole and napped.

lasagna gardening

OK. Time to start thinking about next year's garden. Here's a photo of a plot at the Belmont Victory Gardens where the gardener does "lasagna gardening". (That's a thick layer of horse manure and wood chips on the top.)

I'm starting to feel guilty about tilling my garden and this was a big discussion topic during my Thanksgiving travels.

Here's are highlights from my quick research on the topic.

"Lasagna gardening is method of layering organic materials and compost right in the garden and then planting directly in these layers. Its a time saving organic gardening method developed by gardener and writer, Patricia Lanza, which requires no digging." Lasagna Gardening by Colleen Vanderlinden. At Amazon.com: Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! by Patricia Lanza.

"A Japanese guy named Masanobu Fukuoka started the idea of no-til gardening/farming with his book One Straw Revolution. There was also an American woman called Ruth Stout and an Australian woman named Ester Deans who both promoted the idea in their day." (from a comment Patrick left me)

"To make a lasagna garden: stake out your garden site and begin building beds layer by layer. First layer is something heavy like thick newspaper or flattened cardboard to kill the existing grass. Next layer is 2-3 inches of water absorbent material like peat moss or coir. Next a 4-8 inch layer of compost. Another layer of coir or peat, and then yet another layer of organic material, like grass clippings on top of the coir, and on and on until the beds reach 18-24 inches high. Finally, the tops of the piles may be sprinkled lightly with bone meal and wood ash for added phosphorus and potassium. One of the greatest advantages to lasagna gardening is that you can layer your beds and plant your crops all in the same day. When you're planting a lasagna garden, no digging is required. For transplants, simply pull back the layers of mulch, drop in the plant and pull some mulching materials back over the roots. Sowing seeds is easy, too. Sprinkle a little finished compost over the area you want to plant, sow the seed, and cover it with a little more of the finished compost. Press down on the bed to secure the seeds and water thoroughly." An Introduction to Lasagna Gardening by Ellen Brown

I've always used old-fashioned cover-crop-and-till gardening methods, but was thinking of setting up a lasagna bed for comparison this year. My concerns are:

- Where do you get all that fresh organic material? I'm not going to go out and buy plastic bags full of peat.

- Why compost in my garden? I have a nice compost pile. I collect it all year and it'll be really nice this spring. Plus I have access to composted yard waste from the town.

- Why not grow a cover crop? Growing a legume crop a very efficient way to generate nitrogen. Cover crops require tilling in the spring and aren't compatible with no till methods.

- Why try to save time in the garden? Its only a small plot and some exercise is good.

- What if you don't have enough worms to mix the soil and poke holes in the layers? Layering is a perfect method of preventing water from reaching the lowers levels. Layered soil has the poorest drainage rate.

- And if its important that worms mix the soil, why not help them by turning it myself?

- Newspaper lying around the garden is not very attractive.....

- No-till methods may be important to prevent erosion in large fields, but for a tiny home plot on flat land, erosion is not an issue.

- How can you do a soil test on a lasagna plot? Which layer would you sample?

I seem to be talking myself out of this method here. Maybe I'll stay pro-till another year.





topic: soil

garden review: sweet potatoes to Z

SWEET POTATOES: Last year was my first try at sweet potatoes. I started from supermarket and CSA sweets, beginning rooting in mid winter. (I better get going on this year's sprouts!) I rooted in water, then potted when it got hard to keep the water fresh for the big sprouts. I planted about 25 sprouts in a 4 by 4 patch to the southeast of my popcorn. In October my teenage son dug the patch and we ended up with a BIG basket full. Very exciting and DELICIOUS. I look forward to a second crop of sweet potatoes this year. I'll have enough of my own sweets for sprouting this year. The only thing I'll do different is to plant them in a sunnier spot. I read that this will give bigger potatoes. For some reason, I had thought that sweets were OK in shade. Not true. They like lots of heat and sun.

TOMATOES: After the terrible late blight two years ago, I planted all my Solenacea plants (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and potatoes) in my side yard last year. Its not full sun there, but tomatoes do OK. They ripen late - I didn't get any 'til August - but they produced longer in the sheltered location - into October. I grew lots of different varieties and the plants did well, just not so many tomatoes. I ended up with maybe 30% of what I would have gotten in full sun. SO - this year I am excited to plant tomatoes once again in my community plot. I have a perfect bed reserved for them. I have room for about 20 plants and will use a post and string support system again (with the string tied to the base of the plants). I'll harden off plants in my cold frame, so I don't think I need the wall-o-waters. I am looking forward to great tomatoes this year!

WINTER SQUASH: It just wasn't a great winter squash and pumpkin year for me last year. I think I need to fertilize better. I didn't fertilize at all last year, only lots of compost and horse manure. A number of my plants just petered out very early in the season. The same happened at my parents garden, so it may have been due to weather conditions also. I grew only Waltham Butternut, which is by far my favorite winter squash. I really can't complain though, as I still have 6 or 8 nice squashes in the basement and these should last the season for me. Come to think of it, I think I'll bring one up and make pureed sweet potato and squash for dinner tomorrow. Yumm!

ZINNIAS: I think I'll grow the big purple ones again this year.

first garden work day of the season

Another photo of my plot. This time with evidence of work that's been done. The soil is now thawed and ready for work. And the weather this weekend was beautiful for gardening.

Tasks accomplished:
Brought tools to plot.
Removed of salt hay from beds and stacked for reuse.
Spread 40 lbs of lime.
Gathered and spread about 5 wheelbarrows full of horse manure.
Marked out beds and added up footage of boards needed for raised beds.
And I finally mailed out my garden registration form and fee.
Took down my birdhouse.

The birdhouse removal has been requested by birders to facilitate bluebird repopulation, which has been quite successful recently. It seems that the aggressive sparrows and wrens who use these houses are too much competition for the bluebirds. No problem. I'm glad to do what I can to help this effort.

Also my indoor seeding continues. I added a fourth light so, with two lights and two trays per shelf, I now have good lighting for four plant trays. Most of this space is already seeded.

Today's seed planting list:
Lettuce, Big Boston (1 6-pack)
Lettuce, Valentine mesclun (1 6-pack)
Escarole, Blonde (1 6-pack)
Broccoli, Blue Wind (1 6-pack)

garden review: pears to sunflowers

PEARS: Three years ago I moved two espaliered dwarf pear trees from shady areas of my yard to my community plot. A Bartlett and a Parker. The Bartlett did well but the Parker died. This spring I replaced the Parker with a Kieffer. I haven't started training this new one yet, but it grew well over the summer. The Bartlett is looking very good. I'm hoping for my first pears soon - maybe this spring? I do not know yet if the trees will need to be sprayed for any pests - I'll watch and see what kind of pests find the trees.

PEAS: I had great hopes for peas last year but they were not to be. Actually, the chipmunk wouldn't say that - he ate so many peas I was really impressed. But no peas for me. I don't think there's a way to protect peas from a chipmunk other than covering them with chicken wire, which sounds too aggressive for me. So I'll grow peas in my side yard this year. They've done very well there in the past. The sugar snap variety Sugar Sprint always does super for me in my side yard. I still wish I could grow tall shell peas, so I will keep trying.

PEPPERS: It was prefect pepper weather this past year. I ended up with lots of chiles and peppers. I still have a 1 foot long ristra of cayenne and Thai hot that we are enjoying. My cayenne's are a variety that I save and grow myself year-to-year. I'm wondering what the variety will end up like in a few years. Sometimes I grow the cayennes in a corner of the garden by themselves, but sometimes I mix it in with other peppers and chiles and let them cross as they will. This year's harvest was very nice. I'm planning to do the same this year.

POPCORN: My popcorn failed this past year :( It was a lot of garden space to use for a failed crop. I think what happened is I didn't amend the soil evenly, which gave me uneven plant growth and poor cross pollination. To prepare the bed in fall and winter, I added horse manure and compost with more at one end because I still had plants growing at the other end. I tried to spread it out and turn it in evenly, but it seems this wasn't enough. Then when the corn sprouted, I went away on vacation for a couple weeks and didn't notice the uneven growth. I fertilized later, but it didn't help. The plants grew unevenly and tassels appeared at different times across the patch. Finally, I ended up with ears full of empty cobs. Kernels that did form were eaten by corn ear maggots. Great! So after one super year and one bust, I think I'll take a break from popcorn.

POTATOES: Because of problems with late blight two years ago, I planted all of my Solenacea in my side year this year. There's limited sun there - not the best location for potatoes. I got a nice but small crop of 4 varieties of potatoes. With no late blight at all last year, I'm looking forward to growing a nice bed full of potatoes this year in full sun at my plot. I like the russets and little red ones best.

PUMPKINS: Of the 4 varieties of pumpkins I started this year: Galeux D' Eysines, Long Island Cheese, Baby Pam, and Jarrahdale, I only ended up with fruits from the Long Island Cheese. I had six 4-8 lb pumpkins. I'm wishing for ones with more color this year. I've seen gardeners using a horizontal trellis to support pumpkins anout 6 inches off the ground and black plastic to block the weeds. I think I will try that this year.

SPINACH: I grew a little spinach for the first time last fall and it did quite well. I will plant it again in my cold frame early this spring.

SOYBEANS: One of my favorites! I love fresh edamame. So much better than frozen store bought edamame. I had a great crop 3 years ago in my side yard, but 2 years ago the chipmunks ate all the soybean seeds I planted at my community plot. Last year, I tried to get my favorite variety, Butterbeans, and never could get any. I now have several packages of Envy and will plant these in my side yard this year.

SUMMER SQUASH: I had tons of patty pan this year. Summer squash must be one of the most reliable crops. I think I will try some different varieties this year: a nice striped zucchini and some yellow squash. I haven't picked out varieties yet.

SUNFLOWERS: I love tall sunflowers and am planning to plant a row along the west side of my garden this year. Maybe a mix of different varieties, one plant of each. It worked best to start them inside and transplant them carefully last year as the chipmunks eat the seeds and small sprouts. I also like to include a row of dwarf sunflowers.

preparing bean and corn beds

Last weekend I prepared the soil of my bean bed and my popcorn bed.

Since beans don't need added nutrients, I didn't do anything to the soil of this bed, which is where my tomatoes grew last year. I hadn't touched it since late last fall and it was thick with weeds. I loosened the soil a little with a fork and pulled all the weeds. Now its ready to go. I will plant bean seeds this week.



Since corn needs a lot of nutrients, I did as much as I could for this bed. Last fall I planted cover crops, a mix of winter rye, clover, vetch and field peas. Then on top of this, in the winter and early spring, I layered on a good cover of horse manure. I reseeded with clover again in early spring. The rye grew to about 2 feet tall and the clover was nice and thick. On Sunday, I cut down the rye and turned the soil. It looks really nice with lots of worms and other crawling bugs. Next time I am at the garden, I will plant my popcorn.