I've made a terrible mistake with steer manure. Last fall we put about 8 inches of fresh from the barn steer manure on some new beds that had been layered lasagna style with a base of wet newspapers and then layers of grass clippings and leaves. I thought that the manure would dry out and sort of distintegrate over a NH winter. This spring the manure is almost like concrete. Dry and hard. The layers of leaves etc never really composted. This was done on two new beds. What do I do now? Remove the layer of steer manure and try to compost it? We should have fresh grass clippings available. I got a load of too fresh horse manure that it awaiting layering in the compost bins with grass clippings. Apparently I still have a lot to learn. Last year we had two lasagna beds that we topped with wonderfully composted horse manure and had a fanastic garden. I thought the steer manure would be nice and loose in the spring. One of these beds is supposed to be for winter squash. Do I dare scoop out a hole, fill with a soil/aged horse manure/peat moss mix or should I remove the wintered over hard steer manure first? Thanks for reading this. Apparently the steer manure did not contain any bedding material or very very little. When we got it it had just been scooped out of the barn.

The main concurn with fresh cow manure is keeping it airated. For that reason I wouldn't mix it with the other material. If the cows are on pasture,I would alow most to lay where it falls and eventualy return to the soil. If they are stalled which requires cleaning,I would want to age it before putting into a bin. I would want an area about 6'X6' on the ground where I could dump in adjoining stacks until the ground was covered about 6" to 8" deep. With a square point shovel,I would put 3/4ths of the 36 sq ft on top of one 3'x3' corner,alternating each shovel full coming from aereas of varying dryness/age in hopes of dry material creating air pockets in the new stack. The new stack will recieve the first new manure from stalls then the remaining emaginary "L" shaped bare ground will be covered similar to when we started. When the ground is once again covered,everything is stacked in the diagonal corner layering dry with fresher. Ok,I hope to have created somwhat of a visual of a stratigy for ageing and composting the manure with minium labor. Don't use a tape measure and calander in attempt to adheare to the method,use your judgment on space,timing and wherther to add moisture or cover to prevent over watering by rain. You will reach a point where the manure is reduced in bulk and is more suitable for mixing with material in your bin without creating anarobic problems. Alternate to incorprating into your bin,taking the manure to fully composted is satisfactory also.

Hi Garner, The only place I know for sure that carries it is Paulino's at 62nd and Broadway (58th Avenue exit from I-25). (Are you anywhere near there? I don't think I know where you live! When you have time go over to the Who's Here in 2014 thread and tell us your Life Story!) I posted that price in 2011 and I'm sure it's higher by now. Paulino's doesn't list specific things/prices online, so you'd need to call to get a current price. It sounds like a lot of money, but a bale of soil would last you probably three years--or more! It's compressed like peat if you've ever bought a bale of that, so when you take it out of the package (a little at a time!) you "fluff it up" and wind up with LOTS of it! But, Ms. Balcony Person, do you realize how BIG a bale of soil is? Did you look at the copy/past link above? I went out and measured mine, but the bales aren't exactly square so they're hard to measure, and mine is partly used so the height is a close guess too! I got about 19" x 15" x 30"! That would take up a good part of your balcony! I took a pic of my "mostly gone" bale one year when I was trying to show somebody before a swap what it was I was using! This is it by my firewood pile, and it really is almost all gone! The copy/paste pic shows a full bale! If you decide to get some and to go to Paulino's and decide you don't want that much, ask John at the "customer service counter" what good bagged potting soil they have that's as close as possible to Sunshine #1. (I don't think they carry Sunshine in bags!) If you have somewhere to store it, it really is cheaper to get the bale than to buy a whole bunch of separate bags! It keeps forever! If you go there tell John "Cheryl's best friend" told you about the Sunshine Mix! (I try to not use my real name online!) Also, if you go there you'll probably find a big pile of another Sunshine Mix right in front of the store--I think it's Sunshine #5. It's more expensive than #1, and it's virtually the same as #1, and I've never figured out for sure why they try to push that one, except I think maybe they make more money selling that one! Don't get roped into buying #5--or whichever one it is!!! I don't know if Kelly at Timberline sells a baled potting soil or not, or what it is if he does--or the price. But if you're closer to there (58th & Simms) you might want to call to ask. If Kelly does sell a baled soil I'm sure it's a good one! (He's the most knowledgable hort person I know !) It's VERY unlikely that you killed your rosemary with too LITTLE water. They like to go really dry between waterings! If you were keeping it very wet for a while, chances are that the roots were already pretty "unhappy" when you started to leave it dry, and that's why it died. Neglect can be the kindest thing with a lot of plants--and, yes, I still kill plants by overwatering them too!!! Most often seedlings--'cause I'm absolutely hovering over them---to be sure they're doing good!!! And it's not unusual that I'll think to myself that I really shouldn't be watering them yet--while I'm watering them! My seedlings are usually "safer" if I'm really busy out in the yard and don't have too much time to stare at them! But rosemary is one thing you may find yourself buying another plant to replace the one that died! The herb grower at Paulino' when I was there used to have a hard time getting them started. I think I remember she had a really bad percentage of germination when she tried it from seed, and I know she had trouble starting them from cuttings too. It's one of the harder to start herbs! I've never found that out personally--I don't have one! I think it's one of the most disgusting plants I've ever smelled! (Heresy, I know!) So if you have seed go ahead and try it, but don't get discouraged it it doesn't work--and it wasn't anything you did wrong if it doesn't germinate! On the other hand, if you try it and it works--Great Job! Happy growing, Skybird P.S. If you do decide to get Sunshine, I don't recommend adding anything at all to it. I use it straight out of the package. My theory is that if I use the same soil for everything, I know how long it takes to dry and I just adjust the watering for the individual plants based on how dry they like to be before watering.

it Have you planted anything else in the manure? Maybe something like peas or beans or corn? It could be one of two things. One is fairly easy to solve. The other is more difficult to solve in the short-term. So, here goes..... 1.) It could be the manure was too hot and had not broken down enough. With any manure, that is always a possibility. However, based on your description of the texture and appearance of the cow manure, I don't really think this is the problem. If you had described the manure as more....clumped or lumpy and obviously not broken down from its original, fresh-from-the-cow state, I might buy into the theory it was "too hot". 2.) It could be the manure is contaminated with herbicide residue from a particular class of herbicides commonly used to kill broadleaf weeds in hay pastures, grassy parkland, golf courses, etc. Back in the early 2000s, it was discovered that herbicide residue from a particular class of herbicides (I hate to list the brand names because nowadays there's so many, but the one I first became aware of way back then was Grazon and its active ingredient was picloram) had contaminated animal manure and found its way into commercial and community compost. The problem that was discovered was that the active ingredient (and now there's more than just picloram---there's others like clopyralid and aminopyralid) which had been spread on hay pastures survived on the hay, then it survived passing through the animals' digestive tract, and then it survived being composted at a high enough rate (measured in just a few parts-per-million) to still be toxic to plants planted in garden beds enriched with the stuff. You can Google and find a lot of info about this issue, often referred to as herbicide carryover, or more causually as "killer compost". You also can find photographs of tomato plants affected by the herbicide residue and compare the way they look to the way your plants look. I'll link one article about it. There are tons more. Before we get too deeply into this topic, why don't you read a little online about the issue and compare your plants to photos of damaged ones to see if you think this might be the issue you're dealing with. If it is, then we can talk about mitigation methods. If the herbicide residue carryover/killer compost issue doesn't seem to be what you're seeing with your plants, then we all can put our heads together and try to figure out what the problem is. Also, we shouldn't jump the gun and assume the worst. Your plants problem could be as simple as some sort of 2-4-D herbicide damage caused by herbicide drift via the air when someone who lives near you was spraying. Tomato plants, in particular, are very susceptible to herbicide drift. The info I've linked below is a good introduction to this issue. Another member of this forum is quite knowledgeable on this subject, having experienced it himself and I am sure he will have lots of helpful suggestions for you, if indeed it turns out that your have a herbicide residue issue that came into your garden with that cow manure. Dawn Info On Herbicide Carryover From NCSU