Give her a load of old s*** !!!
Just before Christmas we headed over to a lady in Swiss Normandy who had a large amount of horse manure she had no use for. Manure is such a valuable resource for gardeners adding nutrients into the soil and improving it's structure. It's no wonder some gardeners refer to manure as "Black Gold".
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| Half a ton of horse do do |
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| Black Gold - manure for the garden |
The only problem for me now, is that since Simon fenced the front area for the pigs we can no longer get the trailer close to the veg garden. For that reason I had the delightful job of wheel barrowing the best part of half a tonne of manure from the front of the house to the garden .. which is, in part, UPHILL. It took me a while as I was also spreading it over the bare soil but I got all but 8 sacks moved before rain stopped play.
It has covered a good chunk of the veg patch including the bed in front of the polytunnel which is rather stony and not overly productive. It is slowly getting better as I add more manure and stone-pick each year. Hopefully it will mean should I plant potatoes here again I won't get such a bad crop as last year. The local farmer who I bought sugar beet off recently (the same sugar beet the escapee piglets stole!) has said he has some well rotted cow manure we can have. This will be ideal for manuring/mulching the rhubarb and fruit trees and spreading over the remaining veg areas. Ho hum - that will be MORE uphill wheel barrowing.
I also got a very pleasant surprise when I folded back some of the weed suppressing fabric to add horse manure. A potato plant from a potato left in the ground over last winter must have grown through a hole in the fabric and there were these spuds just sitting on the surface of the soil, simply waiting for me to harvest. I have never harvested spuds in January before!!
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| January Spuds |
How are things going in your January garden. I have seen lots of pictures of daffodils in bloom or is your patch too wet to get out out to?
Oh wow! I need some horse manure for my rose garden and this year I AM going to source some! I love the term, Black Gold. And fab spud-harvesting! What a welcome surprise x
ReplyDeleteI have heard horse poo is good for roses and a neighbour of mine used to run out with a shovel when passing horses dropped any in our road and he had lovely roses!
DeleteWow, that must have been quite a work out! And perhaps a good time of year too? Enjoy those spuds and happy new year x
ReplyDeleteIt was but at least it was bagged! I reckon I got it spread just in time as it has rained hard since which will help the nutrients seep down into the soil.
DeleteWe've got a pile of poo ready and waiting to go on our allotment. The distance between the car park and our plot is quite a way when you've something like that to shift! What a tasty surprise in your January potatoes. Are you tempted to deliberately leave some in next year?
ReplyDeleteI always end up leaving some no matter how diligent I am and if they are not in the way where they grow I often leave them. Last year A Pink Fir Apple popped up in Ben's garden and despite his lack of care for his garden that one plant gave the most magnificent crop!
DeleteYou're opening lines put a massive grin on my face! However do not envy the work you had to do to spread the muck!
ReplyDeleteHe he - glad I made you smile :)
DeleteHuzzah for poo! Al works a refinery and jokingly refers to it as working with the Black Gold - and now every time he says that I will be sniggering away to myself!!!
ReplyDeleteWith my maternal hat on, I do hope your back is going to be ok with all that pushing uphill.
Ok back to my usual nonsense-filled self now.
Score on the potato front!
Thanks for joining in again Rosie you star x
... but what Al refines won't feed the veggies! My back (touch wood) is behaving itself at the moment but shifting that lot aggravated my tennis elbow. I'm falling apart, LOL. A pleasure to join in with #HDYGG, it is my absolute favourite linky and makes me get out in the garden when sometimes I may be tempted to hide on here :)
DeleteAn envious gardener here! Good bonus with the tatties
ReplyDeleteIt'll be you soon enough!
DeleteThat is alot of barrows of muck to move...well done you! Hope it helps the soil over the coming months #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteMe too as it was hard work to move!
DeleteHow fab to find those potatoes and with no effort at all, well done with the wheel barrow treks though, I don't envy that job at all
ReplyDeleteOh yes - the best veggies are the freebies!
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