crazy idea?

[fishboy1]

Suppose you have 1/2-1 acre total crap soil in your garden. Clay, hard as a rock, acidic, and low low nutrients.

What about getting a dump truck full of chicken poo, cow manure, mulch, or some other source of agricultural waste (cheap) and dumping it on your garden in mid/late summer. Let it compost a month or 3, then use a turning plow to turn it under, and disc to mix.

Would it be stabilized enough to plant the following spring?

(looking at working up a new garden spot next year and it will need a LOT of help)

 

[Mausermeister]

You should be good to go. One truck load won't be near enough for a half acre.

I have the exact same problem here. Been adding organic matter for years. Straw, old hay, manure, compost, gin trash, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, basically anything I can get. Avoid horse manure unless it has been composted for a couple of years.

The addition of a lot of organic matter will make the soil more acidic, so plan on applying more lime. Organic matter breaks down very quickly in clay soil, so it is a never ending process.

Another thing to consider is you will get a ton of weed seed in it. No problem if you're like me and consider herbicides when used correctly a very useful tool. But if you want "organic", you will have a "tough row to hoe".

 

[catman529]

One truck load won't be near enough for a half acre.

that was the first thing I thought.

 

[fishboy1]

Anybody heard of getting free manure from a commercial operation?

The greenie weenies freak out about residual medicated feed and stuff.

Back in college, a farm took the dried sludge from a sewage treatment plant and spread it on its fields in a university ag dept study. Never found out how it worked. That sounds kinda nasty to me.

Rather have cow manure but where do you get it by the dump truck load?

 

[PickettSFHunter]

With the cost of synthetic fertilizers for ag use being way up, many more farmers are switching to manure use so it is harder to find manure now, especially for free. In my area you hook up with a chicken house and get litter that way.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

make sure it has been composted or you will have a serious weed problem.

 

[DaveB]

All commercial and for-profit cattle operations have contractual agreements for removal of manure. Get the name of the comapny and see if you can re-route about ten truckloads. You'll need a lot to get that soil into a good condition.

 

[TX300mag]

See if you can find a rabbitry somewhere within driving distance. The manure is much better suited for a garden (less risky and usable immediately). They will almost always give it away.

 

[joessmokin]

Don't forget how they had to do it before all the high end stuff came out. Fish are a great source to help your garden out and if you go to a bow shop I am sure you will find some guys that bow fish and will give you what they shoot.