Using Manure in Your Vegetable Garden: Basic Guide

You can use manure to fertilize the vegetable garden. For centuries, farmers and gardeners have utilized it to aid in crop development.

What is Manure?

Manure refers to organic matter derived from animal dung, which can be used to fertilize the soil. It is more widely used in organic gardening. Most manure is made up of animal dung and urine.

Manure adds nutrients to the soil. Farmyard animals, including cows, sheep, and goats, produce a significant amount of waste. You can compost this to create organic fertilizer for your garden.

Chicken poop and rabbit droppings are other options. There are also donkey dung, llama beans, and horse dung.

Manure is rich in essential plant nutrients. These include nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P), but in different amounts.

There is also green manure, where an entire fresh plant or part of a plant is incorporated into the soil as manure while still green [1].

Types of Animal Manure

Animal manure is classified as ‘hot’ or ‘cold,’ depending on the nutrient content. However, you should not use fresh manure on plants. Well-aged manure works best.

Hot

Gardeners generally refer to those higher in nitrogen as “hot manures.” If not properly composted, these can burn plant roots.

Compost with carbon-rich materials, such as straw and leaves. After that, add them to the soil.

Below are examples of hot manures.

• Horse manure is excellent for vegetables that require high nitrogen. This includes kale, peppers, cucumbers, spinach, and okra. Tomatoes benefit from high nitrogen levels, too. Horse dung takes 3 to 6 months to age. Donkeys, zebras, and mules are also in the same family as horses.
• Fresh chicken manure is considered very hot. Chicken farm manure has phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, and other key plant nutrients. It is safe to use poultry manure compost in your vegetable garden after a period of six to twelve months.

Cold

Cold manures release nutrients more slowly, and you can add them directly to the soil. However, it’s best to let them decompose a bit before applying them around plants.

• Cow manure is one of the most popular cold manures. It contains NPK and other essential nutrients and works more effectively when used as composted manure.
• Sheep manure contains plenty of phosphorus and potassium, as well as other nutrients. It is also one of the richest fertilizers and does not burn plants.
• Rabbit manure is rich in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and minerals.
• Alpaca and llama manures are rich soil conditioners that are free of weed seeds.
• Goat manure is also an excellent soil conditioner, and it is virtually odorless. Besides, it is one of the best animal manures for plants and soil.

Pet and Human Waste

Some sources say you can compost waste from domestic pets like cats and dogs as long as you use the poop from your pets. Human waste is also a possibility, provided it is appropriately managed.

For hygiene reasons, don’t use pet poop or raw human feces as fertilizer in vegetable gardens. They may contain parasites and bacteria that can cause illness if not properly managed [2, 3].

Pig Slurry 

Pig slurry may carry salmonella, E. coli [4], and parasitic worms, so it’s best to avoid it.

Synthetic Fertilizers vs. Manure

Animal dung can be smelly and messy, and it takes time to decompose. As a result, some farmers prefer synthetic fertilizers.

However, synthetic fertilizers do not add organic compounds to the soil. These compounds help keep moisture, improve drainage, and boost microbial activity.

Synthetic fertilizers nourish plants. Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, nourish both the soil and the plants.

Animal Manure vs. Plant-Based Fertilizers

One of the primary disadvantages of fresh livestock manure is the risk of contaminating edible plants.

Animal dung may contain harmful bacteria, such as E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella. If food is contaminated through improper handling, foodborne illnesses can result [5].

Crops grown under or near manured soil surfaces are most susceptible to pathogenic contamination. As a result, only use composted or well-aged manure.

Plant-based fertilizers, such as hay, kelp, seaweed, or green compost, reduce these risks. There’s also green manure from cover crops. These are crops or crop parts that are uprooted and left to wither, returning to the ground naturally or dug in to enrich the soil.

Cover crops, such as ryegrass, alfalfa, and certain clovers, enrich the soil with nutrients as they break down. They also help improve soil structure and promote good drainage.

How to Use Manure for Growing Vegetables

There are two ways to use manure in the vegetable patch. Applied directly to the ground or composted and incorporated into the soil.

However, using it fresh and raw is not the best option. It may contain harmful pathogens, weeds, or insect pests. It can also burn plants and may be unpleasant to transport, as it is offensively smelly and attracts even more pests.

Farmers spread fresh dung on fields or pile it up but leave it to decompose. When you leave it to dry and age, the odor will diminish. It will also be easier to transport and less likely to cause contamination or burn plants.

Work manure into the soil about two weeks before transplanting seedlings. You can also create a manure “tea,” which is easy to apply and highly beneficial.

Adding to the Compost

Compost on its own may not have sufficient nutrients for all crops to thrive. Therefore, a mix of compost and aged manure is the best base for growing organic vegetables.

Takeaway

Crop residue and animal droppings, also known as dung, are composted to create healthy plant fertilizers. This type of fertilization is regularly and successfully employed in organic agriculture.

Using manure correctly can help promote healthy plants.