Even though many find it disgusting, animal manure is still the best fertilizer for the garden. Here are instructions on how to deploy it correctly.
Horse manure and animal manure from cows, goats, stable rabbits and the like makes excellent fertilizer for garden beds. It is organic and should therefore be used in the garden much more than chemical fertilizers. And this organic fertilizer usually doesn't even cost anything. Many farmers often give away the manure from their animals for free. So find out more in your area and do something good for your garden. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to spread animal manure correctly in the garden.
Incorporating animal manure in the garden bed - explained step by step
❍ Step 1 - Pick up animal dung:
If you don't produce your own animal manure at home, you can pick up fresh manure from farmers or horse keepers in many places. However, you must first ask the pet owners when they can hand in how much animal manure. You should prefer animal manure from organic farmers and hobby animal owners.
Ideally, transport the animal manure away with a wheelbarrow over relatively short distances. For longer distances, on the other hand, a small car trailer is a good idea. However, you should cover this with tear-resistant foil in advance so that the moisture in the animal manure does not damage the vehicle.
❍ Step 2 - Store animal manure:
You only have to perform this step if you only get fresh animal dung. You must not use this directly as a fertilizer, as it could do more damage (burn) to your plants than it can do. So if you only get fresh animal manure, you should store it temporarily on a compost heap.
❍ Step 3 - Prepare the beds:
You can apply animal manure almost all year round, provided that the respective plants and their flowering or harvesting time allow it. Here is our recommendation for vegetable beds, flower beds, trees and shrubs:
➜ Vegetable beds:
Vegetable beds are usually harvested in late summer. You can then dig them up thoroughly and thenprovide plenty of animal manure. During the winter break, the animal manure then settles in the soil and provides it with sufficient nutrients so that you can plant fresh vegetables and types of lettuce as well as berries, etc. there in the coming spring.
➜ Flower beds/trees/shrubs:
In the case of flower beds, however, you should wait until flowering before working in the manure around the plants. Or you can spread the animal manure before flowering (growth phase in spring). The same applies to trees and shrubs.
❍ Step 4 - Work in manure:
When incorporating, you first have to spread the animal manure on site. You also need a rake to rake in the manure superficially. You should loosen the garden soil a little first and then mix it roughly with the manure. However, you must not undercut this too deeply. This allows the animal dung to slowly seep into the soil over time.
Tip:
Sprinkle calcium cyanamide again directly on the animal dung to heat it up to rot. This is especially recommended for manure that contains a lot of straw. However, you should then cover the manure that has been worked in with a thin layer of earth (about 1 to 2 centimeters thick).