Turning Poop In To Produce

One of the main focuses of any type/level of self sufficiency, whether it be a full blown homestead, small kitchen garden or allotment is finally arriving at that point where you are confidently able to produce your own ample supply of delicious seasonal, home grown, pesticide free, fresh fruit and veg. If you own chickens too then trust me you are already half way there!!

Chicken manure is one of if not 'the' most nitrogen rich manures you can possibly hope to get your appropriately gloved hands on. In addition to this it also contains good amounts of both potassium and phosphorus the other two key ingredients in any great fertilizer.

The only down side to fresh chicken manure is that the high level of nitrogen it contains means that you also need to know how to properly process it before you jump right over to the veg plot with your bucket and spade.

If it isn't aged or processed first in order to mellow out the nitrogen level it can actually do more harm than good, especially to young tender seedlings. Too much nitrogen can burn the roots of your plants causing them to shrivel and die which we definitely don't want after all the work we put in to planting them. However just the right amount and your garden will literally thrive and plant strength and productivity, especially of nitrogen loving plants such as tomato, cucumber and watermelon, will shoot sky high.

There are several variations for processing manure but I will stick to the two simplest and most oft used methods.

Composting

This option takes between 6 and 9 months for the composting process to convert the chicken manure and organic waste into plant friendly super fertilizer but don't worry the wait is totally worth it!! The steps for this process couldn't be simpler...

1. Pick an out of the way spot for your compost bin or heap.

2. Add the chicken manure along with any compostable household waste you fancy recycling

3. Water the whole lot thoroughly

4. Leave to sit (ideally covered with a tarp if it isn't enclosed in a compost bin to help keep the heat in) for 6-9 months or even up to 1 year if you want to be absolutely certain that the manure is properly composted) turning every few weeks with a pitch fork or similar to ensure that enough oxygen gets in to the pile.

5. Once fully composted simply mix the resulting fertilizer in to the soil of your veg plot and get planting.

*if, and I sincerely hope this is the case with all you chicken parents, you clean your coops much more than just once a year the trick is to lay your compost pile in chronological order with the newest waste always added to the left of the pile for example. Then when you are ready to turn it (every few weeks or so) or to add more compost you can move the older material to the right in order to make space turning it in the process in order to introduce more oxygen. Properly formed compost should be fairly dry, crumbly, dark and rich and that is the stuff you want for your veggies.

If you are using a compost bin instead of a lose tarp covered pile then you will find that it does most of the hard work for you. Usually they come with two hatches one at the top for adding the new material which you want to compost and one at the bottom where in due time your nice fully composted muck will be ready and waiting for you to collect and distribute.

Direct Application

This is a good option if you have enough space available to rotate the location of your veg plot or if you live in a place with a shorter growing season. In italy the growing season often runs right up to november and picks up again in march/april so it may not leave long enough for the manure to properly break down in the soil between growing seasons. for the growing season in somewhere like the uk though where the climate is cooler this method should be just fine to use even if you only have space enough for one veg plot. Basically instead of using a compost bin you mix the manure directly in to the soil at the end of the growing season and then turn the soil well and leave until the growing season begins again in the next year at which point it will be nutrient packed and ready to plant back up again for a bumper crop.

For this method you don't need to turn the soil every few weeks as with a compost pile (although you can if you like as it doesn't hurt any) but the end result seems to be much the same in terms of plant health and productivity so either method will serve you just as well.

Tea Making

This is an optional extra step you can take at the end of the composting process as an alternative to mixing the compost directly with the soil or even as a nutritional top up feed for use once every couple of weeks.

As with composting the steps are incredibly simple although this stage is far faster as the long wait for the manure to fully compost is already complete.

Take a few scoops of your newly finished compost and add to a mesh bag along with a couple of heavy stones.

Place the sealed mesh bag in to a bucket or large container and add warm water (about 1/3 manure to 2/3 water to ensure that the tea isn't too concentrated at the end of the steeping process)

Put the bucket in a fairly sunny location and give it a stir every other day for around a week to 10 days.

Don your rubber loves, remove the mesh bag and give it a good squeeze to get all the remaining goodness out.

Store and then use straight in a smaller quantity as a top up feed or dilute it and add to the watering can whenever you water your garden. If you continue to do this every couple of weeks at least throughout the growing season it will provide a great boost for your plants and you will get larger and more abundant fruit as well as stronger larger plants in return for your patience and effort.

*There are the odd veg plants (not many thankfully), carrots in particular, which are not fans of too much feed as it causes them to grow too rapidly causing mutations and deformities and making them claw-like and almost impossible to peel so double check which of your plants will thrive and which are best left to their own devices before you start spreading the muck about :}

Here is a quick list of a few well known chicken manure loving veg/fruit plants to get you started...

• Tomatoes

• Peppers

• Chilies

• Squashes

• Potatoes (These guys cant get enough nitrogen so chicken manure is ideal)

• Leafy Veg (kale, cabbage, lettuce etc.)

• Broccoli

• Cauliflower

• Green Beans

• Egg Plant (Aubergine)

• Zucchini (Courgette)

• Beetroot (if you eat the delicious beet greens, its worth noting that the nitrogen in chicken manure will certainly make them more leafy but the root itself will probably be more or less unaffected)

• Watermelons

• Strawberries

• Cucumbers

Good luck and happy harvesting!!

#Garden