Thanks for the experience. It's another reminder that soil management with composts is about building for the future as opposed to short term benefits derived from chemical fertilizers. There's always a lot of questions about 'when is the compost ready'. I'm not so fussy and add organics to the garden from the compost whether it's 'finished' or not. I want my compost to keep breaking down over the long run (as you state, decades). Your worms are a great barometer of a rich, organic soil. The smells of the manure, etc. are a rich reminder of your youth. As you write: 'lovely' smelling. What a personal and wonderful legacy to have. My smell trigger is old canvas and rope: reminders of those magical camping trips from decades ago.

It looks like compost to me. Till it in and go forth and multiply! I would not till in any uncomposted materials unless you are planning to prepare this bed and wait till next summer to plant. If you're using it now, go with the manure compost. I agree with the earlier posts that said it's good to have other materials when *starting* a manure compost pile. Straw or other bedding can provide this, or any other compostables. The only other thing to be concerned about with fresh manure is harmful bacteria, but if you compost it for a few months or a year first, you'll be fine.

I have looked at the Serrano website, it sounds like a good product, I have been thinking of buying some for my parent's garden in Laguna Beach. Let us know how it works out. I have done a workshop with one of the premiere organic farmers on the Central Coast, and she uses composted manure on her tomatoes, pumpkins and squash generously and I followed her guidelines with success in my little garden. However, root vegies, such as carrots and beets, do not like such rich soil. You will learn as you go, different vegies need very different conditions to flourish,( what a celery loves tomatoes hate ( constant water )) How thoroughly composted is what you will be getting?? If it is composted all the way to black humous-y small particles like soil, you should be able to fill your boxes up with that and have at it.If it is still recognizably horsey, then a bit more caution is needed!I would think about adding some good bagged mix on top. I garden in Los Angeles, at a community garden where we have a great source of composted horse manure made with wood chips which is still fluffy and stinky , and also a more finished compost which is garden cuttings,and manure composted for longer until it is very black. Even in our garden there is NO consensus on how to use the manure and compost, almost everyone has their own theory. And the garden is full of happy vegies! Everyone doing it their own way. You will need to find what works best for you. In my plot, I did the whole double dig, mix in the compost and the manure routine, it is HARD WORK.I used a lot of manure, and the plants seemed to love it. I planted the tomatoes into holes filled with the manure, it was a jungle of tomatoes.Then in some areas I also added a top layer of good bagged planting mix.This is where I planted the root vegies. I like Happy Frog or Whitney Farms. Yes, it is expensive, but I have a small garden, and I wanted the best chance of happy vegies. It is a lot of work to turn the soil like that,and if you are doing raised beds/boxes , I don't see the point. In your case, if your lawn was free of major weeds such as nut sedge or burmuda grass, just cover it with cardboard or newspaper, and go ahead with filling up the beds. Poke through the sod with a heavy garden fork, this will open up for drainage. I would make the edge of the walls higher than 8" though, at least 12" if not higher if you can afford the lumber. If you can afford to fill the boxes with all new, purchased materials, that would be the best. Adding any of the soil from your garden is just adding problems, possible dormant weed seeds, nematodes, and soil borne disease. With out seeing the Serrano compost, I can't say for sure, but if it is like what we use, still a bit rough and rich, you can fill the beds with that, grow only the plants that love rich compost this year, which would be tomatoes, squash,peppers and flowers such as zinnias,marigolds,dahlias, sunflowers, let the worms and such do their work, and I think you will be pretty happy with it. Add bagged soil as you want or can afford, next spring plant the root vegies etc. Happy gardening

Unfortunately, most riding stables have way too much sawdust and shavings in the mix. Kinda reminds me of a bowl of Raisin Bran. A whole lotta bran, and not much raisins! I used to have a "perfect" manure source, but they went out of business and it broke my heart. There was almost NO bedding in their manure and I carried it home by the trailerload. I used to let this stuff compost for AT LEAST three months. Six is better. From what I hear, because of today's economy, fewer and fewer parents are able to indulge their little princesses with horses anymore. The boarding stable owner (before he went out of business) told me people were calling him every day wanting to GIVE him valuable horses they couldn't afford anymore.