I can’t imagine that there are many people who get a building sense of pride as their manure pile increases but the Governor and I are of those few, oddly Mrs Beardsworth does’t seem to share our enthusiasm. Thanks to a neighbour we now have a consistent supply of good quality pig manure, the aroma is best described as…. lingering.
Our tree nursery at the farm is on heavy clay soil so prior to planting we need to raise the organic matter content to improve the soil structure and drainage. To achieve this we use 2-3 hundred tons of manure each year, availability of which is a perennial problem. We have tried all the following sources with varying levels of success:
Green Manure
For those that don’t know a green manure is a crop that is grown to be mown down and ploughed into the soil to raise the organic matter content.
We had a couple of trials with this technique at Beardsworths using a mustard crop but is wasn’t deemed a success. The amount of organic matter yielded into the soil was too meagre for our requirements and the extremes of weather this past few years have proved it too unreliable.
Green Waste
Green waste is basically the same as your own garden compost. It is comprised of chipped/shredded prunings and grass clippings that is composted on an industrial scale.
We brought in several hundred tons a few years ago and I was very underwhelmed. The green waste contained far too much wood that wasn’t fully composted, we stacked it for three years before it was deemed usable.
Stable Manure
Horse manure is our usual, steady source of organic matter. It’s only downside is the amount of rubbish it contains; string, gloves, pop bottles, fencing wire, torches, wellies, rubble and this year we even had a car tyre (thanks for that!).
From now on it looks like pig manure for me, all the benefits of stable manure but without all the rubbish.