Titanarum

A van load of horse manure arrived yesterday. A steaming mixture of straw and compacted poo it smells of ammonia, an aroma I find strangely attractive. Already half of it has gone. A small number of allotment holders can’t get enough of the stuff. I’m usually among them but as I’ve hit a phase of intense laziness I’m leaving it for the others this time. We will hopefully get another load in the spring. But spring is the worst time to spread it, especially the freshly produced stuff. Manure shouldn’t be used until it has rotted down. And that usually takes at least a year. I just bung it on. Despite my erroneous ways my raspberries, in particular, keep on going, setting large and tasty fruit long into September. One of my neighbours has been growing runner beans in pure fresh manure trenches all his life. And they certainly don’t suffer. And let’s not forget the Victorians, who used the stuff to keep cold frames warm enough to grow produce in the winter. But according to text books on the subjects using the stuff before it has rotted down properly releases the wrong sorts of nutrients in the wrong amounts. Deary me.