The lady I got the rabbit manure from was trying to sell it for $5 a bag but gave me three bags containing about 40 pounds each for free as a free sample, but I had to clean out her chicken coop for free to get the free chicken manure she gave me too. She also gave me as much horse manure as I wanted for free, so I took 11 five gallon buckets of that. The horse manure was partially composted. But the rabbit manure had a lot of straw and grass and twigs and rabbit hair in it, and even a piece of plastic that looked like it was part of a radio. She said she wanted to start a business selling through home depot, but she will have to dry the stuff out and screen all the garbage out if she expects to do that. I used up 80 pounds of the stuff so far planting the one Costata Romanesque Zucchini and five Kobacha squash. BTW, I only got one and a half 5 gallon buckets of the chicken manure, but that stuff smells so bad I won't get anymore even for free. I spread it around one of my Avocado trees hopeing it would burn the bermuda grass, but the Bermuda is growing right through it. I can smell the chicken manure 70 feet away if the wind is blowing my way. I read on one forum some guy wanted to put ten tons of chicken manure on his garden. Hope he didn't do it because you would probably be able to smell his property a mile away. Once I mix the rabbit manure with clay and put it in a planting hole it doesn't smell too bad.

First off I'm not a gardener. Were your existing large bins filled as batch or continuous? If batch, I am going to expect a 50-60% reduction in volume by the time it's finished. If continuous, not so much reduction as some has already taken place. Is your garden for vegetables? I've heard that veggies are more demanding of nutrients and stuff. Do you till a lot? As it is your bins have a volume of 16 CY or so if filled. Shrinkage could take that down to as low as 8 CY or so but more likely into the 12 CY range. To cover a garden of your size with 1 inch of finished compost you would need just over 13 CY of finished compost. One inch doesn't sound like a lot but it should be sufficient if the compost has decent numbers and the garden soil wasn't dead to begin with. And with 5 of 7 years having compost added I would suspect your garden is in pretty decent shape. I don't think even 2 inches would cause any harm but it might be more than you require. Your compost ingredients sound fine to me with the caveat that the HM came from healthy animals. Lloyd

A lot of people think so, I like Ruth Stout no till garden with hay & straw, but the new fad is wood chips, which is okay if you can get them free. We use dry but not rotten saw dust years ago & everyone said it will kill your garden. Never had a problem. I must tell you I am 54 yr. & was raised in the row field type garden. I remember when everyone who was organic raved about the double dig garden fad. Now it is no till, have no ideal about the next fad. But no till works with my asparagus & sunchokes, so it should work for you beans too. I use cardboard in my first blue berry orchard, it worked every well. I still till under compost for my annual garden.

Compost/composted manure is not highly regarded or even advised for a container soil regardless of plant type. It will continue to break down over time and with watering and as the particle sizes reduce, it loses pore space and compacts, affecting drainage and aeration. It also tends to be rather excessively moisture retentive. For cacti and succulents, a potting mix that is very textural, durable (non-decomposable, NOT like the compost) and mineral based is preferred. Al's gritty mix is often suggested as an appropriate mix for these types of plants. btw, rocks, gravel, pebbles or pot shards layered at the base of the container does not enhance drainage - that's a container gardening myth :-) All these items serve to do is raise the perched water table in the container, actually impeding fast drainage.