Composting horse manure.

Friday 28.01.11 ....Darren and myself took the afternoon and gathered up 3 trailer loads of horse manure,not easy work,especially when its quite fresh.The manure is going to be used for our potatoes in April,as a fertilizer for the seed potatoes.The manure has to be piled up ,and then covered,i inserted 4*1.5metre lenghts of BT plastic ducting,so that this would speed up the composting process,by introducing air into the heap.In the winter it can take between 3 to 6 months for the manure to break down to a pleasing compost.By covering the horse manure,it not only speeds the process,it generates alot of heat in the heap,and hence kills off, snail eggs,flies and their larve and any grass or weed seeds that have passed through the horses.

sunset on a number of blisters

Aquadulce Claudia beans

Darren s beans were planted early December 2010 in these earth pots.They ve been sitting outside since then,in the frost and snow.

Unearthing the past

Darren s Arran Victories from last year (planted approx early april 2010),still in great condition, no signs of frost damage.They re nice to see ,but can be a nuisance if left in the ground undetected. Popping up in the summer in the middle of your plot.

Rotovating and Dunging

G

To day the rotavator had its inaugural appearance in the allotment, as did the horse manure (thanks to my kind neighbour).

The 1 st signs of 2011

Darrens onion sets are starting to show signs of life after a week under glass in the allotment

Making the beds.

 So far i've completed four of my six planned raised beds,for the timber i used treated 6x1 1/2 screwed together and it worked out at £1.24 a meter from a local  hardware store.

The beds were made to the size of 3 foot wide by 8 foot long,with a 2  foot  space between each one for working around,making the beds

any longer or wider  would have become to much of a reach for planting and weeding.Getting  the beds level and in line was a bigger job than i thought as there was a slight run of on the land but well worth the effort as they are really starting to look the part even with  next to nothing planted in them yet.

After my final two beds are made and in place my next job is to work out and build some sort of net

frame that be easily lifted on and off the bed when i

am working on and around the them.

Darren.