Actually manures are not that high in nitrogen, not compared to say inorganic fertilizers.. you can apply fresh manure around the beds, horse dries faster IMO than cow, but this will be a debate that lasts the spans of gardeners. However, fresh manure is high in one thing, salty compounds, this is what is likely to cause burns, leave it a couple inches away from the plant however, if you are going to spread it, Ive found a few weeks in the sun and the horse manure is pretty much ready to go. This is a MUST READ LINK on manure... from our friends at the univ of Minnesota.. Great link Manure Management The horse manure I get varies in age, from days to years, as the place I get it also puts new stuff in front and you cant get the old stuff until the new stuff is moved.. this year, alot of the new stuff was gone, so I got some really composted horse manure.. Silverkelt

I don't have any prior experience with chickens, these are my first. But I have read that they are very destructive to the garden. So I don't intend to let them loose to mess up the garden, I have worked too hard on creating it thru the years. They will have to be satisfied with a little chicken yard for outdoor time. Meantime the chickens have been growing like crazy. Here is one of the bigger ones taken Thursday. And the newest hatchlings also taken on Thursday :-)) I have been bribing these chickens with mealworms so they take them out of my fingers and eat from my hand. They get treats when I clean and feed each day so they fly up to see me as soon as the top is off the brooder.

I just noticed someone else was looking for curry recipes earlier and this recipe was mentioned. Oh well, I guess I should get caught up before posting!

Oh, I missed a sentence up there LOL, that is the bush/tree with the deck that we cut down. The SO was cutting it while I was taking pics. I had to get them taken before he cut down all the tree/shrubs in pic #2 because I wanted before and after pics. In pic #10 if you look in the background at the bottom of the hill you can see one of the neighbors houses, this is the one I want to block the view from. I am planning on planting some fast growing trees in a line. In pic #9 on the right side of the pic is my holding flowerbed we put in too, I am using it as a nursey bed for young plants. I didn't take a pic of my WS containers LOL. Dan, tell the kids I said thanks for thinking about me, but I think we will leave the scratching and rubbing to lavish on them! LOL. Bunny, I am a country girl through and through, I can't stand the thought of living in the city although we did consider it but only for a minute. I like being in the country and NOT seeing my neighbors everytime I go outside. At the other house the trailer park folk would pull up chairs to watch us that I think that is 1. RUDE and 2. CREEPY, WHO does that? Joan, I am so totally pleased to be here. It is a small country house and it could use some work but I am tickled to finally have a place that I am surrounded by nature and not homes. We even have a nice size front porch to sit out on when we get it cleaned off LOL. It is so peaceful here, with the exception of the little &^*&^* that run up and down the main dirtroad on the trail bikes and 4 wheelers but if I had one I would be too! hehe. I am just so pleased to be here. A lot of folks wanted to see the place and this thread was the easiest way for me to share. In the front yard where that little ridge is, we are putting a flowerbed in there too, to make it more level. Can't understand WHY someone would make a cut out section in the front yard but someone did! Crazy is all I can say. Ok, well, thanks for the comments. Have a great night. :) Fran