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The X Factor
A farmer friend of mine is constantly talking manure, always going on about his special reserve of chicken dung and how his dahlias have never been so big.
Of course he is more than willing to part with his supply of well-rotted vintage cow dung, for a small fee of course and collect your self. But his special reserve is just that.
This got me thinking as to what really is the best way to improve the fertility of the vegetable plot or garden.
Generally, it’s a case of you pays your money and you takes your choice. Another factor is availability though my farmer friend purveys his wares from the farm gate half way up Swanaton Road, (other gates are available). Over the last few years I have been using composted green waste supplied in bulk from the green waste processor at the Mounts.
Composted green waste tends to be clean to handle and easy to transport in a trailer as it has been already composted. It can be dug into the ground or applied as mulch.
Dung or farm yard manure contains more nutrients and assists in feeding the micro organisms that already exist in the soil.
Composted green waste can also be obtained from community composting schemes such as the one in Stoke Fleming. You have to be a member and have to donate your garden waste to the community compost heap, but the return is black gold.
The other advantage is the smell, really there is none, so it won’t upset one’s neighbour. The point being - right manure, for the right place. Well-rotted farmyard manure should not smell. If it has not yet fully rotted down it can still be spread on vacant ground and left over the winter to continue masticating (that’s the technical term).
This reminds me of the time we built the show garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show. We were in the final stage of completing the garden, all of the hardscape was finished and had been scrubbed clean (which reminds me of another story). All of the plants had arrived and were being set out when the mulch material arrived - five cubic metres of fresh mushroom compost, Years ago, I used to obtain it from the mushroom farm at Harpers hill in Totnes, and great stuff it was too. The only problem was the smell as when fresh it had a high ammonia odour that tended to linger.
So as the lorry tipped its load next to our show garden, the pong attracted the attention of the Royal Horticultural Society Show Manager. In no uncertain terms, he stated that such a smell was not permissible on the RHS show ground! And it was to be removed immediately. So what were we to do, the lorry had departed and not a digger in sight?
So after much placating from our project manager and the promise that the smell would lift now that it was in the open air, we were permitted to carry on and finish the garden.
The main purpose of good manure is, of course, to add bulk organic matter to aid fertility and improve the soil structure to assist with the retention of moisture and to make the earth live.
First published October 2011 By the Dart
