To go back to the OP's question about using half semi-aged horse manure and half coffee chaff for raised beds, I would say that making it half manure and a quarter each of the chaff and some kind of soil (potting or top) might be a better mix. That said, I have used only compost (a year old) in a large pot, and grown good plants in it. The thing to realize is that the mix will keep 'working' and will diminish over the summer. Your plants may descend below the level of the edges of the beds. You will probably have to keep adding more. If you are growing annuals, this won't be a problem, as you can just add at the end of the season as you remove the old plants. If you want to plant perennials in the raised beds, then you might have a problem, as few of them respond well to having 'dirt' piled up over their crowns, and lifting them and applying more dirt under them isn't really an option, not if you want them to keep growing and flowering. I would fill the bed to the top of the edge, mounding it up in the middle, if it were me. I would also, since it's free, take as much of the chaff as I could and compost it with the manure and whatever else I could get, to have a good supply of compost for the future. It would seem from what has been said, that residue from pesticides is likely to be minimal. If the chaff is composted, then any residue should be degraded by the time the compost is used.

I think the writer is full of that poop herself. She is perpetuating a common myth without getting out there and gaining her own personal observations from doing her own research. I have been using horse manure for years without the problems that is claimed in the article, I could post many, many pictures of excellent produce from my garden and my worm population has been excellent up until the last drought this past summer which took it's toll on them. However, they are bouncing back now. This following statement is crap too: "Another common problem with horse manure use is that, over time, crops often start showing signs of stunting or slowed growth. Soil tests can explain why. Adding horse manure to garden soil over many years can result in the buildup of toxic levels of magnesium. Because horses have an incomplete digestion system, sometimes large nutrient residues end up in the soil. Non-water-soluble residues such as minerals can be especially troublesome, in part because symptoms of nutrient excess can mimic symptoms of nutrient deficiency. " I just got the results back from two soil tests by a reputable lab and posted the results in another thread on here for all to see. One of them shows the magnesium level as just a bit low and the other one shows it to be medium. Many who have seen some of the many pictures that I have posted would probably agree that I do not have any problems with stunted plants or produce. She probably got her paycheck for the week so all is well, but she should be regarded as a fiction writer. If she is supposed to have credentials as some sort of an expert or knowledgable person, they would be suspect to me. That is my personal opinions, experiences and observations. Bill P.

Oh wow this thread has come back to the top! In the past few months I have pretty much stopped actively hot composting the manure stream, since it was a lot of work and proved difficult to give away for free at a fast enough rate. At present I am spreading it at home and just building my own soil that way. But for anyone in the north Scottsdale area who wants just old manure, I have plenty of 9-10 month old material that I haven't bothered to spread yet. Come with a shovel and bags (or you can use my old feed bags) and take as much as you'd like. Email for directions and to set up a time. FYI a lot of horse owners have to pay to have their manure hauled away in a dumpster and would gladly give it to you (fresh) if you approached them.

I'll second Purslane (which is a weed in many parts of the country, though there are cultivated varieties available from European seed sources) Also check out Flax seeds. In fact, if I recall correctly (and I'll admit its been a while) many seeds contain Omega 3 oils, just not necessarily in as high quantities as the previously mentioned plants) ~Chills