When to plant after using manure???

beatricegay

I’m a newbie-ish gardener... am planting seeds for salad and veg (like courgettes and runners).   Have bought some bags of Westland Gro-sure farmyard manure to dig in.  Do I need to leave a time gap between digging it in and sowing the seeds and if so how long?   Thanks so much.  

Obelixx

If you have any seed compost, it's best to sow in trays or small pots of those especially as it's too soon to be sowing courgettes and beans outdoors as it is too cold for them.

If not, just use some of your ordinary garden soil in pots so you can sow your seeds now, indoors or in warmth and grow them on till it's safe to plant them outside in mid May.  You can start off courgettes in ordinary 3 to 4"/8 to 10cm pots but use narrower, deeper ones for your beans as they like the extra depth and don't like root disturbance when being transplanted.   Toilet roll tubes are good for these.

Meanwhile, you can fork over or hose the area where you want to grow the veggies, rake it level and then spread on the manure.  Worms and other soil organisms will start working it in for you and it will also get mixed in when you make the final planting holes.

REMF33

I have the same question as beatricegay. I only just received the manure I ordered some weeks ago. Is it too late to use it if I am planting out young plants? It's mainly earmarked for the 'flower' garden (not many flowers, but trying to recitfiy this) but I had wanted to put a bag on my raised bed, in which I intend to plant out beans and possibly peas in the next few days.
I guess it's supposed to be well rotted if it's commercial garden centre stuff, but will it be well rotted enough?
If not, then I suppose rake in slow release fertilizer (maybe do this anyway?)
I know... I should have done all this ages/months ago.But it's been a topsy turvey spring. (Life was v difficult in the run up to lockdown.)

GemmaJF

REMF33 said:

I have the same question as beatricegay. I only just received the manure I ordered some weeks ago. Is it too late to use it if I am planting out young plants? It's mainly earmarked for the 'flower' garden (not many flowers, but trying to recitfiy this) but I had wanted to put a bag on my raised bed, in which I intend to plant out beans and possibly peas in the next few days.
I guess it's supposed to be well rotted if it's commercial garden centre stuff, but will it be well rotted enough?
If not, then I suppose rake in slow release fertilizer (maybe do this anyway?)
I know... I should have done all this ages/months ago.But it's been a topsy turvey spring. (Life was v difficult in the run up to lockdown.)

You could just take the same advice as above, start the plants off in pots or trays, so it has some time down.

To be honest though, the bagged stuff is pretty much 'good to go' in my experience.

I'm not even that fussy about the 'real deal' straight from a stables. Books say put it down in Autumn, I rarely do, I usually incorporate it into soil in the spring and plant straight into it a week or so later.

nick615

Agreed. As Gemma says you can't go really wrong with using manure - nature doesn't differentiate? - unless, with things like root crops (carrots, parsnips especially) fresh manure will make the roots fork off in several different directions, when you want one single well shaped root.

REMF33

Sorry if I wasn't clear that I already have plants ready(over-ready) to plant. This weekend/in the next few days. My question was, can I put the manure down then plant straight away.
The reason for asking is because I have read things about manure burning roots. What I really wanted to know is whether that which one buys in bags from GCs is sufficiently welll rotted for this not to be a problem. It's still pretty smelly...
So the answer is, it's not a problem? I suppose it will need quite a lot of incorporating though. Some that I put down a  month ago is a bit clumpy, as I was a bit lazy with the digging in...

BobTheGardener

The westland stuff is usually so well rotted that you can use it straightaway, just use a  fork to incorporate it well into the soil before planting.  Due to the sheer weight of the stuff, the bags get compressed when stacked at the suppliers so I find it is best to break it up manually before applying.  I do that by giving the bags 'a good kicking' with my garden boots which helps break up some of the larger lumps and then I tip some out into a wheelbarrow and break it down further with gloved hands or a hand fork.  The more compacted lumps tend to stay together in the soil unless that is done.

I do get the odd bag containing some not-so-well-rotted lumps which are brownish and sticky rather than black and crumbly (and often smell a bit) so those are removed and mixed into my compost heap.  Only about 1 in 20 bags is like that out of the hundreds I have used though.

GemmaJF

REMF33 said:

Sorry if I wasn't clear that I already have plants ready(over-ready) to plant. This weekend/in the next few days. My question was, can I put the manure down then plant straight away.
The reason for asking is because I have read things about manure burning roots. What I really wanted to know is whether that which one buys in bags from GCs is sufficiently welll rotted for this not to be a problem. It's still pretty smelly...
So the answer is, it's not a problem? I suppose it will need quite a lot of incorporating though. Some that I put down a  month ago is a bit clumpy, as I was a bit lazy with the digging in...

It is only fresh manure that burns roots.

The stuff people put down is "well rotted'  12 - 18 months old.

Your bagged stuff will be ready to go.