Manure and sawdust.....

[LMTC]

I remembered! Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond, Garden Way Press. $16.47 on Amazon and worth ten times that. Amazing book.

 

[HGM]

Great info guys.... I'll get the book and check arround... I appreciate the help, please keep it coming if you think of any more ideas... Thanks again.

BTW,
I spoke with someone yesterday and he recomended not to use fresh manure either. His reasoning was e-coli /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif..... I thought that was interesting...

 

[budman72]

Definitly check out horse stables in your area. The place where I board our horses has tons of it! Usually it's load your own, unless they happen to be spreading on the hay fields at the time. If you time it right, they'll load it and you'll get the good stuff thats at the bottom of the pile.

Cow manure is better though, a cow's digestive system eats up seeds that are in the grass / hay. A horse only has one stomach so the seeds don't get broken down. If there is a dairy farm or feed lot near you try them.

Bud

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( a cow's digestive system eats up seeds that are in the grass / hay )</font>

Some seeds maybe. I never heard that before, but I think you'll find that many seeds pass right through a cow and survive to germinate and grow later.

 

[LMTC]

Bird, that is absolutely correct. MANY seeds, particularly hard shelled weed seeds, survive the trial by digestion. Even worse are weed seeds in the bedding straw that gets mixed with the manure.

 

[deereman63]

I have also thought of going the horse manure route as my wife spends a fortune keeping a horse at a barn so I should at least get something back /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. My soil is a heavy clay and I was thinking of use styrofoam peanuts to break up the soil. Not sure if its politically correct or useful though.