Cow manure

I've been gardening for a couple years and use the same beds every year to plant veggies/annuals. I add compost in the spring, but I don't really have enough for all my beds. My plants have always been large and healthy, but I think eventually they will start to deplete the soil of nutrients. I've thought about adding cow manure this year. (No, I don't know the pH level and never had a soil test done.) My questions are:
1. Will cow manure really benefit my plants or should I continue as I'm doing?
2. Can I plant seedlings/seed immediately after tilling the manure?
3. Will the bag of manure give me the ratio to dirt? If not, what should it be?

Cow manure is one source of nutrients and organic bulk; there are many others. The manure should be thoroughly composted in order to prevent burn and to lessen the chance of getting e coli or other disease organisms in your soil mix. You don't run that risk if you use plant organic matter.

I have the same problem you do--I can't make enough compost to cover my large veggie garden let alone all my flowerbeds so I supplement with cow manure. Most composted cow manure is more sand than manure. I finally tried Black Kow and it's a much higher ratio of manure to sand than the others. It comes in a black and yellow bag and I've been finding it at Lowe's. One person here on the forum said he/she had trouble with it burning their plant roots; however, I've used it for many years and never had that problem. When I plant, I add two or three heaping shovels full into the dirt removed from the planting hole and mix it real well before adding it back around the plant.

Have used packaged composted cow and sheep manure, available here, on perennial beds and for annuals. Only problem have had is the amount of weed seeds they contain. Tends to be a small variety of weeds (things like wild mustard), but quite a lot of them.

I think my yard already attracts every weed seed in the neighborhood lol...a few more can't hurt. Luckily, I am one of the people who find pulling weeds therapeutic-crazy, huh. Don't get me wrong- I HATE the weeds, but until I find a way to be completely weed-free, I can handle a few more from manure as long as it will be beneficial to my plants.

I am lucky that my daughter and son-in-law have horses. When I visit, about 20 minutes away, I take 5 gallon buckets with me and fill them up. Theirs is a very sandy soil so I get that mixed in also. The manure is aged, not fresh. Trouble is that my daughter is also a manure gardener and have to "fight" her for it. I bribe her with plants since I'm the seed sower in the family LOL.

I live near Tampa, and there are tons of horse farms in and around the city.

If you look on craigslist.com, you'll find horse farms giving away manure. It's actually a problem for them - they don't have a place to get rid of it, and they're grateful that somebody is taking it away.

See if your area has a local chapter of freecycle.com - you can find it there too.

When you go to pick it up, you usually do the shovelling. Make sure you get old manure - dig deep down to the bottom of the pile. You'll know the old stuff when you see it. It doesn't have much of an odor, it's dried, and doesn't much look like manure.

Store-bought manure is usually dirt with a little manure mixed in - that's why it's sandy.

Mushroom compost is great stuff. Look for a local landscaper's supply company. They usually sell retail and wholesale.

Melissa,

If you enjoy weeding that much, how would you like to spend a few days in sunny FL? Lots of room here...

Mushroom compost is all right- as are most composts. However, salt is added to the growing medium when mushrooms are grown for harvesting, so the percent of mushroom compost in your potting mix shouldn't be over 10 or 15 percent.

Hi all, I have been making manure tea. You take a large washtub, fill with water. Then, get some dried cow manure from the pasture(make sure its real dry.) Put your cow patties in a tow-sack or other fabric sack, tie with rope, and sink it in the tub. If it floats, add enough rocks or bricks to keep it on the bottom. After several days, the water will be the color of tea. Then when you water your plants, put this tea in watering can and use. Makes great fertlizer. LOL alday

PS. when water gets low in tub, just add more water.

I do the same, only with worm castings. I use it as a foliar spray.