Sometimes it's fun talking about poop. Seriously, just saying Poop makes some people laugh. Thank you for joining us for day 14 of our series Grow Your Own Food in 100 days or Less.
As a homesteader or farmer, it's important to plan ahead for poop management and storage if you plan to have animals. We currently have chickens and one of our neighbors has horses so we have plenty of manure to work with.
Here's our Day 14 Video
To simplify for this post, different manures are either "hot" or "cold." Hot manures should be composted or aged prior to using in your garden or they can burn you plants. Cold manures can be tilled directly in your garden.
Cold manures include Rabbit and Goat poop. Hot Manures include Chicken and pig. Right in the middle are horse, sheep and cow. Bunny poop is garden gold so if you raise rabbits or you know someone who raises rabbit, this would be a very inexpensive way to add nutrients to your soil right away.
We've already posted 2 different videos on manure.
The first was one
And the second one is
We mentioned in our first video not to splash your plants. This is an important precaution to take. ALL of the manure we use has been composted or aged. We also add layers of manure then soil to our beds so the manure does not touch our plants. Splashing manure water on leaves can burn them but can also spread bacteria and we definitely don't want that.
Using manure in your garden is not a necessity. There are plenty of non-animal alternatives to feed your plants and boost soil health. This part of our series is important as it shoes that there are ways to feed your plants using "free" options that might otherwise be thrown away.
However you choose to feed your plants and build your soil, we've shown that there are quite a few options.
Thank you for joining us for another day of Grow Your Own Food in 100 Days or Less. If you have additional questions please send an email to mary@marysheirloomseeds.com
Happy Planting!
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3 comments
What about using poop when wintering your soil letting it compost into your soil. Does that work or do you have do use it once your spring or summer seedlings are in the ground? I raise both horses and chickens so I have plenty..lol
Looking forward to your reply,
Smiles and Blessing,
Leslie Stevens
“We”, the World are really lucky to have you!!! Thanks for all you do in service to"our" collective healthy needs.
The laugh about poop (+ Dr. Seuss quote) were unexpected pleasures!
That’s one sign of a true gardener: a great respect for manure. I don’t miss the work of raising rabbits and chickens, but I sure do miss their free fertilizer!