Kitchen Garden Forum

Unfortunately I'm rarely able to get genuine bulk manure these days so have to rely on the bagged stuff available from garden centres.
Like everything else, this seems to be increasing in price and I'm wondering how sparing I can be with it for it to serve its purpose without using so little that it's not worth adding to the soil?

I should try and locate some manure "on draught" as there is nothing better. However, I should restrict the bagged stuff to the veggies that really need it and don't scrimp to make it 'go futher'

How much of a Lottery win is enough ? Cheers, Tony.

On a related note. I collected a wheelie bin full of horse poo and I mixed some of it into the soil in a new area I want to plant in. I was going to plant leeks but then noticed the advice not to plant leeks in recently manured areas.
How recent is recent? Or to put it another way, how long should I leave it before planting leeks?

Hi Kaneda,
A very hearty welcome to the forum.
Farm Yard Manure needs to be allowed to compost for a year ideally but with Horse manure, which is nothing like FYM in strength, is comparatively mild and feel that although if not used 'absolutely fresh' can be used quite quickly after collection.
More to the point when did you dig the manure in and when do you propose to plant out your Leeks?
JB.

Can I recommend that you try and get Pauline Pears book How to Make your Garden Fertile. I bought it on Amazon for 1p plus £2 something postage and although slightly out of date on the peat issue is packed with all you need to know about making composts, and various manures and anything else you want to improve your soil with - how much to use etc. It is a really useful little book.