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Jb

Manure or legumes

If you have a plot that you want to use next year but were expecting to leave fallow for a year would you choose to manure it or plant a nitrogen fixing crop?

I have just such a bed in the garden which I was going to plant with legumes but now Maggie (the better half) has just been donated a quarter tonne of chicken shit.

So poop or peas?
tahir

so if you manure then is the plan to plant it this year?
Shan

I'd do the legumes and let the poop mature a bit. Once the legumes are done, manure the bed.
dpack

250kg is a fair bit to pop in a tub to ferment

i would keep it damp for the year but put a tarp over it to avoid excess leaching when it rains if you plan on not using it now.

rather than fallow and a N fixer how about double spit trench, use raw chook muck* at the base , refill, plant broad beans ( n fixers and leave the roots in as the nodules continue to fix)and use the leftover backfill to earth up when they are a foot tall.

best of both worlds, bugs n worms will do most of the work+ you get an ace soil from that and beans.
+the cultivation will suppress weed growth, green manures and fallow can be a good excuse for neglect and "things" become established

pure, ferment it in water for a couple of months minimum and dilute it as feed.
*(if it has bedding etc , pure needs maturing or mixing with straw to use in the fresh state as mentioned)
Mistress Rose

As you have mentioned bean nodules, I have unearthed a few from last years beans, They are hard and dry, so are they worth leaving in the ground to rot or best put on the compost heap?
dpack

i leave them in, so long as you plant something else after them there is no probs with pests and diseases and they will rot down over a year or so releasing the n they have fixed in situ.
Mistress Rose

Thanks. I will be putting potatoes in that bed this year.
dpack

ideal
gil

Legumes are lazy, and will only fix as much N as the soil needs. So I'd save the chicken shit for another time, and let the legumes work for their keep.

(interesting fact I never knew before I did that Org Ag degree)
tahir

I never knew that, makes sense
Slim

I'd rephrase that to say that legumes are smart and don't bother feeding nitrogen fixing bacteria if there's enough available nitrogen in the soil
tahir

peas are better at fertilising the soil than us!
gil

slim - that's a much better way of explaining it.
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