Aiai, it’s not going well on the manure pile. Moschata all but dissapeared. There are Maxima, but not many and not as big as I had hoped. Some watermelons seem to survive, but none thrive.
There goes the hope to supply Antibes Convention with a truckload of seeds. 
4 Likes
Yeah, my volunteer squash plant produced a squash, but it rotted, my tomato plants are thriving, but I realized that these were the descendants of the tomatoes I deemed not tasty enough for human consumption so fed to the chickens. FML, lol
Maarten
1 Like
Yeah. Well I’m not giving up. Planning for next year. He’s normally putting it in the field in long much lower rows. Much lower. I’ll grow the ones that seem to like manure on the edge of the dikes. They then can drink from the bottom soil easier.
2 Likes
I was told the same…horse manure too salty, too low in nitrogen…etc.
The manure grows great vegetables by the way. Glad your pushing thru the naysayers and using this resource. But, here in the sandy soil the plants did way better with composted wood chips in the mix with the manure. I saw more mycelium threads develop with a mix. I layer it onto the ground, see that it gets a good watering, then hand broadcast fresh earthworm castings…its good for two growing seasons, as it all continues to compost and shrink. The layers that worked for me…2 to 4 inches horse manure, about the same of composted wood chips, if manure layer is too thick it can heat up again by composting…and roots cant grow deeply in hot compost…some like it if tvey have shallow roots…
2 Likes
So the experiment had some problems, but i will use the seeds that did OK ish to good on manure as a base for next years experimentation.
I’ll add diversity from all over and keep using this resource.
4 Likes
Another year, another failed experiment! My farmer friend brought 10 tons of manure. Dumped it in the field. I made it into a star fish shape. Just to make it so that I can experiment with depth. Just like last year they did great until they stopped growing and snails had them. I’ve tried upstarts as well. Transplanting into the pile led to immediate stunting. The only cucurbitaceae that worked so far were seeds direct seeded in a layer of ten/fifteen cm=four/six inches.
In thicker it just gets too hot for the roots I figure. First it was quite cold this year, till june then it got crazy hot.
I’ll save the seeds again and do another one next year. But just with a layer manure on mulched field.
The king of the manure pile!
2 Likes
That’s a lot of manure! I have piles and piles of woodchips that contribute greatly to my soil, adding organic matter to the heavy clay, but its is just awful stuff for soil by itself. I’m wondering if manure is something similar, it is wonderful to add, but its not great all by its lonesome? A few thoughts from a rookie homesteader here.
It depends on your soil type, but basicly i guess you’re right. It’s smashing things out of balance leading to super growth and then aphids taking advantage of the weak but superbig plant. But, I have very poor soils, granite, just trees and cows will grow here so to get something going a bit happier it’s recommended to use a bit of manure. So, because we have a lot around here and almost nothing will grow in it, like grasses and stuff that hinders crops, on these piles i thought it would be a funny thing to let some diversity loose on it.
Just as a thing that’s new for farmers, they can put their pile and seed and walk away. But so far not such luck. I had hope it could pull them into thinking a bit more about diversity growing and seed saving, cause it’s nice what we’re doing as amateur breeders and gardeners, but it’s the farmers providing the planet of food, we’re just a fringe fraction with a lot of potential.
i don’t spend an awful lot of time on it and am used to failures, so no biggie, just learning and nuff seeds, so no loss!
I would love to have a lot of wood chips.
I got one load from getchipdrop.com, but then as we saw people doing tree work in our neighborhood, we asked if they would like to drop their truck load of chips at our place. Once you find someone, they will do lots of it! In fact, I finally had to tell one guy, please no more for now. Alas, I don’t have his number or I’d ask him for another load! oh, well.
I also know here in the US, we have to worry about what the cows (or horses, etc) ate, b/c there is one herbicide that goes right through their system to the manure. I’ve heard so many stories of someone killing their garden with tainted hay or manure. But I’ve come to depend on wood chips b/c people don’t tend to spray their trees around here. And here, in central texas, its the summer heat that tends to kill things. And, of course, the year I decide to leave things to nature, we get nearly 3 inches of rain this first week of July! I’ve lived here for 16 years and it NEVER rains in July or Aug… until now. Not sure what this will do for the various landraces I’ve attempted to start this year. 
1 Like
I used to have pure clay soil at my previous home. The first year I planted into the clay and everything failed. Then me and my husband put probably 2 feet of chicken and cow manure on top of the clay and I planted into the raw straw/manure and nothing grew very well. BUT the next year after the manure had time to decompose a bit we tilled it into the clay as best we could and that year I had an amazing garden.
Next year your manure pile will probably be ready to grow amazingly well. Sometimes it takes 2 years to break down enough.
3 Likes