Manure?

TraceyB_2

My DH has been harping on for a while now about growing veg in the garden and has spent the last 2 days digging away in the garden.

He has today decided that he might go and beg some manure from local stables and keep it in the garden (we dont have a very big garden):mad::eek:

Now I'm no gardener and I dont keep horses but my guess is that a pile of manure at the bottom of the garden is likely to whiff a bit and will probably attract flies?

I know that you have to wait for the manure to rot and that you cant just chuck it on your carrots, but can anyone tell me how long it takes for this to happen (and for the smell to go!) - not sure if he is intending on putting under tarpaulin or in a composter - both methods have been discussed so far.

I'm all for growing in the garden and our 4 year old DD is SO excited but the thought of a pile of poo at the bottom of the garden isnt doing that much for me!

Thanks in advance

conradmum

It'll only smell if it's really fresh. As long as he's careful to get the older stuff (and stables usually have a stockpile somewhere) there shouldn't be any problem with odour or flies.

Tell him to get the stuff that doesn't smell and has the texture of crumbly chocolate cake mix (he may have to dig from the bottom of the pile). If he can get stuff like this it can go straight on the garden. No need to let it rot.

cooking-mama

I was under the impression that fresh manure cannot be used for Vegetables due to the risk of contamination with salmonella or E.coli,
Tho its fine to use on plants/flowers.?

A._Badger

You wouldn't want to use it fresh anyway, cooking-mama, it would 'burn' the plants.

If the thought of having a pile of manure at the bottom of the garden bothers the OP (and I can understand why it might) perhaps you could persuade your husband to have a compost heap, instead? It produces exactly the same result, after all.

TraceyB_2

Thanks for your answers so far:T

So, providing he can get some older stuff that resembles chocolate cake mix from the stables, he can put it straight on the plot and it shouldnt smell or rot.

If he cant and it is fresh, roughly how long should it take to rot down and stop smelling if he has it in a compost heap?

conradmum

TraceyB wrote: »

Thanks for your answers so far:T

So, providing he can get some older stuff that resembles chocolate cake mix from the stables, he can put it straight on the plot and it shouldnt smell or rot.

If he cant and it is fresh, roughly how long should it take to rot down and stop smelling if he has it in a compost heap?

Six months or so to rot down. It shouldn't smell after the first 2/3 weeks though, as long as you don't go digging through it. I don't think you need to worry too much about flies either. It's more the cowpat type of manure they go for, rather than horse manure which has loads of straw in it.

Farway

If he covers the pile [if fresh stuff] with a polythene sheeting it will soon heat up & rot down, years ago on my allotment I had a pile steaming, literally, in mid Jan

It does not smell too bad really, even fresh, not like a sewage works

He may be surprised though at just how many oat seeds survive the process to spring up in your borders