Manure: Nothing to Sneeze At!

After a summer with record-breaking temperatures in much of California, plus a hotter-than-usual Indian summer, our cooler fall weather certainly is a welcome change. With the cooler temperatures what your garden probably could use right now is a cozy, fluffy blanket of...manure.

Yes, you read right. Even in our warm-winter climate, fall is the ideal time to amend your soil. And there's no better way to improve your soil on the cheap than with organic manures. These can range from horse, cow and chicken manure to droppings from rabbits, llamas, sheep, bats, crickets, etc. Where I live south of San Jose, mushrooms are a major agricultural crop. This translates to an abundance of cheap mushroom compost.

I'm sure if you're an avid gardener, you've probably bought bags of steer manure from the local nursery. I don't know why, but it always seems to be 90 degrees out when I'm spreading the smelly stuff throughout the garden. Yet, I always get a tinge of regret when I buy the stuff because I know it's usually free for the asking if one were to take initiative and shovel it themselves from one of the many stables nearby. Most stable owners would only be too happy to have you come and shovel the stuff into garbage cans, bags or plastic buckets.

Animal manures are some of the best sources of organic fertilizers and soil conditioners around. Manures vary greatly in their content of fertilizing nutrients depending on type, age and condition of animal; the kind of feed used and degree of rotting of the manure. Some potential dangers include soluble salt damage from high nutrient content, ammonia damage to roots and foliage and weed seeds contained in non-pasteurized or non-fumigated manures.

But then, that's the primary reason for spreading manures this time of year. With our cooler weather, chances of damage from these various factors are greatly reduced. And manures are a bargain.

Maureen Gilmer, in her book, "The Budget Gardener," advocates free manure or other organic matter. She says it's everywhere if you know where to look for it. She suggests everything from area stables to zoos and even that pigeon-fancier or rabbit person down the street. Rabbit manure is especially nice to use because unlike most animal manures, it is a "cold" manure and can be spaded into soils without pre-composting. (Rabbit manure also is pellet-like, which mixes very well).

Speaking of so-called "hot" manures, that is a primary detriment with fresh barnyard manures. If you spread it over your soil for immediate use, it can "burn" plants. With the E. coli fear, too, you want to be extra careful of any type of fecal material need a food source. For this reason, don't use fresh manure where you're planning to grow winter vegetables meant to be harvested weeks after sowing. Only use fresh manure around non-edible plants. Aged mushroom compost has a high salinity content, but most plants can tolerate this so long as it is mature and the soil is not allowed to go dry.

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