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Kittanning,Pa

ok I am going to put in a garden for the first time and I am laying it out big enough that my pumpkin plants and water melon plants can spread out question is the site is on a slight slop is this going to cause an issue? And I found a horse farmer going to give me manure mixed with lime for free up to 3+ tons is there anything I should be watching out for?....and I watched Ron and Dave on TV and it was great seeing them on tv and they did a great job.

10/17/2012 9:03:47 PM

Ontario

Is the manure well rotted? If not it will be full of weed seeds!horses only have one stomach unlike cattle that have two so, the weed seeds don't break down as well. Why does he put lime in the manure? is it to stop the odour? but hey, no matter, the price is right! Terry

10/17/2012 9:27:34 PM

San Antonio, tx

I would be concerned with the manure. If its fresh then you could run into excess nitrogen and salts. Also weed seeds will sometimes come up if the horse was grazed in a field. You must also check to make sure the manure doesn't contain picloram, an herbicide that some folks use in there field and can pass on thru a horse. Real easy test for this: take some manure and steep it in a bucket of water. Use the tea and spray some broadleaf weeds. If they die then it'll have to be aged until the picloram is gone. If its aged already and the poop is awesome I say go for it.

I don't mean to a pessimist...I'm a newbie to the idea of growing giant veggies too. Its just I've seen alot of folks plants never grow because of bad poop.

10/17/2012 9:37:18 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Talk to Norm Gansert about growing on a slope. He's an expert.

10/17/2012 10:06:23 PM

Kittanning,Pa

@joe "bad poop"...lol

How would i get ahold of him my email is [email protected]

10/17/2012 10:10:03 PM

Minnesota

Go to diarys, there is a little envelope, click on it or run your arrow/cursor over the envelope and the address will show up in the bottome left corner. His diary name is abbynormal.

10/18/2012 12:42:36 AM

Western PA

Eric, as long as manure does not stink to bad , you should be fine. The older the better.I have put down cow and horse manure in the fall that was only 6 months old.I do think your chances go up to have soil diseases if it is 6 months old or even less, so try to find some at least 1 year old.
Get it tilled in asap !
I would assume they put the lime in to break the manure down faster. I don't think it will hurt anything as our ph is usually low in this part of the state. Just be sure to have a spring soil test done.

10/18/2012 7:43:22 AM