What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Happy late birthday Gwr, what kind of tiller will you be buying?

Thank you! I am not sure yet. I don't really have a lot of money to spend. We are going to have to rent one to just get the planting done. DD is getting married in June. It will be probably July before we can buy one.

 

[Nyboy]

Happy Birthday

 

[ducks4you]

It sounds wonderful! Maybe I could do one for this year. I have enough old manure for that and get another load and at least try to do another bed this fall.

I have heard rabbit people tell me that their rabbit manure is better than horse or cow manure because it breaks down faster than the huge clumps from the bigger mammals. I have also seen when some farmers raise both chickens and rabbits and the rabbits are in cages above their chicken run enclosure, so in the Spring they strip the run and pile it up for compost.
I am just happy that the money I spend on feed ends up as "free" manure.

 

[Nyboy]

Rabbit manure can be used straight from the bunny, doesn't need to be aged.

 

[Nyboy]

I have to buy horse manure, I found out the hard way not all are equal. 1st truck load was blackgold it was screened. 2nd truck load much cheaper Horrable I think they just sweeped out stalls and loaded the truck. Learn lesson you get what you pay for.

 

[so lucky]

Nyboy, you just need to get several more rabbits. You are out there feeding one, anyway, might just as well be feeding enough to fulfill your fertilizer needs.

 

[ducks4you]

From what I have learned the best stall leavings are horse manure and straw and almost nobody beds down with straw anymore, according to Colonial Williamsburg. Since I am studying composting, NEXT winter my horse's shelter will be bedded down with straw.
Most horses are stalled today. It keep their hooves healthier than turnout with ONLY a shelter. Been THERE, done THAT, and HATED IT!
After I got my horses to my own place with them in the back yard I made stalls and I went to sawdust and/or pine shavings and Equine Fresh which is also 100% pine, dried out in pelleted form. That keeps the ammonia down and is healthier for their lungs. Straw is still readily available and my hay man sells them for $3.00/bale. I try to put up about 50 bales every year and it is a nice winter topping for the spots where my horses choose to poo in their stalls. Also my mare's stall can have a light draft from the door to the shelter, so she likes 3-4 flakes of straw on the coldest nights.
If you do not turn or till stall leavings with pine shavings they don't break down quickly and are better used as mulch. I have even dug into a pile that was 5 years old and found intact medium shavings.
You really SHOULD ask about two things before you take away their stall waste:
(1) What is the bedding being used
and'
(2) What the horse is being fed.
I suggest that you look for a high class show stable or one where people board and pay a trainer. They will usually shell out big bucks for expensive feed and now mostly feed pelleted hay.
NO Seeds.
Almost ALL of us now feed pelleted grain.
NO Seeds.
Also, you can work on ANY stall leavings by turning them:
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/how-compost
I COUNT on my stall leavings to sprout pasture grass, so I feed straight hay.
If I thought there was a good market I would try to create seed free aged compost and sell it.
There is ALWAYS somebody selling Preen............

 

[seedcorn]

Pelleted feed is about as seed that can germinate free as possible. Not sure if some real nasty weed seeds can't survive pelleting-water hemp, amaranths, etc. great question for agronomist.

 

[ducks4you]

Dunno, BUT I know the weeds on my property and the only one that was not there when I moved was burdock. I do not have oats volunteering, or corn volunteering in my piles. All I have seen in 16 years is common weeds spreading, like chickweed. My north pasture was in corn when I looked at my property in August, 1999. They told me 5 acres, I said I didn't see it, just the property and a corn field, and I was told that the corn would be harvested on the property in the Fall. I bought and fed my herd of 5 with hay when I moved in. A few years later they had dropped pasture seed and seeded the pasture themselves. (My south pasture was only completely fenced in when I put up a fenceline to the east. Owner #2 had fenced in the entire 5 acres when he retired and bought fed, fattened and sold 5 steers every year and fed them on the pasture and baled hay for the next Spring for them. HE was the owner that sold off the balance of the farm when he retired from farming and went to hobby ranching. He is also the reason for my great barn which can hold up to 500 bales in the loft--I know because I have filled it. I also added supports below even though there was no visible stress. They each hold up to 18,000 pounds and are a precaution.
I think that if somebody wants to sell you aged manure you will pay for their labor, or put in your own labor to buy it cheaper.
BUT, I can tell you that using MY OWN stall leavings has created some wonderful garden beds. After 6 years of dumping in my vegetable and flower beds I can scoop a hole with my hand to plant seedlings.
Although I haven't fixed all of the beds I think I have figured out what I am doing right and when I did it wrong.
I have also come to realize that the idea that our north of the glacial termination line in Illinois is terrific black dirt does not take into consideration that SOMEBODY has been growing on it since 1818 or earlier (or a little bit later) and NOT bothered to amend it. Soil DOES wear out and you have to fertilize it. It still looks black, but it sits 3-18" (in our county) on top of clay, and every housing development around Illinois cities is usually flat where they have bulldozed down to the clay when building homes. So, you could live on a property in Northern Illinois with NO black dirt, like the home that my parents built in the mid-1960's. DD's live in a 1920's home and their soil is actually pretty good. IT also needs amending and we are taking advantage of the forest of trees and their leaves to Help amend it.
I am ALWAYS happy to read any studies on the topic of dirt and composting. After all, it was only 2 centuries ago that Darwin observed earthworms at work:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Chancellor_Earthworms.html
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1648&viewtype=text&pageseq=1
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1357&viewtype=text&pageseq=1

 

[Beekissed]

Planted seedlings into the tunnel space today~romaine, carrots, pak choy, broccoli. Planted flower seedlings in the garden, also planted various other flowers there today.

Mama ran the mantis through the wood chips to disturb the fine carpet of weed seedlings growing there. I seem to be doing the wood chip gardening wrong as there is not supposed to be a carpet of weeds growing all over the chips first thing in the spring. I think it was placing a layer of leaves on it in the fall, there to compost on top of the chips...probably a big no no.

I have a feeling we'll be revisiting this activity throughout the season but, since it takes all of 5-10 min. and very little effort, that's not all that bad. As soon as all rows are established, I'll haul fresh chips and mulch the pathways.

Sugar snap peas are up about a foot now and doing great, rhubarb has greened up since fertilizing, chives are blooming, garlic has greened up and is multiplying, raspberries are slowly making an appearance. Strawberries are blooming. The red honeysuckle is putting out blooms and the marigold and zinnia seedlings are up and doing well in most of the garden. Some of the taters are up and looking good. Peach trees are LOADED with peaches and some of the apple saplings have tiny apples showing up.

Will plant trays of tomatoes today. Hope to get cukes, squash, beans, pumpkins and watermelon planted this evening. Trying to get things in the ground before the annual trout fishing trip.