| Although horse manure is undeniably good for your | | | | population. |
| garden -- rich in nitrogen which feeds foliage and | | | | There are two types of manure, known in the past as |
| boosts leafy growth -- it can cause you problems. | | | | long and short manure. Long manure is manure mixed |
| Here are a few cautions to bear in mind when you | | | | with bedding, and short manure that contains no |
| collect or buy horse manure. | | | | bedding. If short manure is added to the garden directly |
| Horse manure can be full of weed seeds. In | | | | the same happens as with fresh manure -- there will |
| temperate countries such as the UK, warmer, sunny | | | | be an initial surge in plant growth but then the humus |
| weather that is necessary for drying grass to make | | | | (containing stored carbon) will be depleted. Long |
| hay tends to come later in the growing year. This | | | | manure however has a much better balance of |
| means that hay is often made from grass that has | | | | nitrogen and carbon in it so it doesn't deplete the |
| already flowered and set seed. The seeds are resilient | | | | existing humus in the same way. Another benefit of |
| and manage to come out of the horse's digestive | | | | long manure is that the bedding straw will soak up |
| system unscathed, ending up in the most perfect | | | | urine which is rich in the other main plant foods, |
| growing medium, manure! One way to cope with this | | | | phosphorus and potassium. Short manure would be |
| problem is to allow the seeds to germinate and to | | | | more use added to the compost heap first where it |
| remove them before putting the manure on your beds. | | | | will help heat the heap and speed up compost |
| Even then there will probably be a reservoir of seeds | | | | production. |
| that remain in the manure but at least this will help give | | | | Grass used as horse hay may come from pasture |
| your plants a head start on the weeds and you will be | | | | treated with herbicides that contains a hormonal |
| able to gauge how nasty the weeds that surface are. | | | | chemical (ie 2-4D). Like the grass seed, the chemical |
| If you see docks and thistles for instance, the | | | | doesn't break down when eaten which is good for the |
| advantages of the manure might not outweigh the | | | | horse as it doesn't harm it, but very bad for your |
| extra weeding work. | | | | plants. In the UK a chemical called Aminopyralid was |
| There are some good arguments for adding the horse | | | | used on pastures as a herbicide and the manure from |
| manure to your compost rather than directly to the | | | | animals that ate the grass was distributed to allotment |
| plants. If you are lucky enough to have a compost pile | | | | holders and others. It was disastrous for that year's |
| that gets hot most weed seeds will be killed. (For more | | | | crop of vegetables which grew in distorted forms and |
| on the art of creating hot compost see the link below). | | | | some established plants were killed. |
| Traditional folklore had it that fresh horse manure gave | | | | Sourcing horse manure isn't too difficult but finding |
| many vegetables a harsh flavour so it was | | | | well-rotted, long manure from horses fed with |
| composted rather than applied directly to the soil. If | | | | non-seeding hay is more tricky. If you have access to |
| horse manure has not been well-rotted before it is put | | | | fresh manure without bedding the best option is to |
| on garden beds it will actually starve the plants before | | | | compost it yourself. Make sure you have plenty of |
| it will be able to feed them. The high nitrogen content in | | | | carbon-rich materials (cardboard, toilet rolls, woody |
| manure is used to make protein to form the bodies of | | | | clippings etc) to mix in with it and you should end up |
| the microorganisms involved in the decomposition | | | | with wonderful compost for your garden. Manure is |
| process. When a lot of them are produced all at once | | | | one of the best ways to get your compost hot |
| they need a lot of food. The food comes in the form | | | | enough to kill those weed seeds too - a win win! Do |
| of carbohydrate, from carbon in the existing humus, | | | | make sure it's hot enough though or you might be |
| which is then depleted. Eventually equilibrium is reached | | | | adding a lot of new and very unwanted plants to your |
| with a stable amount of food for a stable microbe | | | | beautiful borders. |