I buy steer manure blend at a discount store or home improvement store for less than a dollar to spread around by flower beds and lawn. I use those black weeping hoses for my watering system so the black manure compost makes my gardens look very neat and tidy. This compost is my fertilizer and mulch. It's good for the soil unlike chemical fertilizers. I also put about a cup of this steer manure in a large empty detergent bottle filled with water to water and feed my house plants.
I have a question. I purchased Steer Manure Blend from Home Depot. (It is an EarthGro product I think made by Miracle Grow.) It says it is a blend of Steer Manure and Compost, it has some wood splinters in it so I assume the compost is wood chips. It does not have any odor so I wonder if the manure has been heated. I am trying it as mulch on my perennial flower beds (mostly for looks) instead of using that dyed red bark. I heard that wood is bad for soil as it depletes the nitrogen as it decomposes.
My questions are: Will this type of product burn my plants? Will I get weed seeds from it? Will the decomposing wood chips reduce the Nitrogen in my soil? Any ideas anyone has for healthy mulch that helps plants look nice I would appreciate it.
It's better than chemical fertilizers and I have used it too! I have read (Ann Lovejoy) that it has salt in it, from the salt licks that they use to make the cattle thirsty so they weigh more for that last trip across the scale. I found a dairy near me that composts the manure solids, and that stuff is the finest I've found, makes a good mulch, n o odor, and very clean to use. Antibiotics and rBST don't survive through the cow let alone the composting, it's good! Every garden needs the life, the active life that comes with well-made compost, and the plants show it. There's no substitute for compost!
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