Letting Nature Do Its Thing

Gardener:Northland Backyard Gardener

Date:17 Nov 2023

Blog Type:Vegetables, Flowers

After a humid day yesterday, I did begin to wonder if I had made the right decision  with putting the sheep manure around the garden before work. Often on Friday mornings, I will give my gardens a liquid feed. But with rain forecast, I decided a side dressing of sheep manure would be ideal. Then the rain would do the rest. Fast forward to the end of the day...no rain, and a very hot and humid evening. Thankfully, this morning is a different story with a gentle, but consistent rain.

We are lucky that every so often, one of my friend's children collects the droppings from under the shearing sheds and sells large bags to raise money for whatever they need at the time. This time it is a new bike. As this is a cold manure, it can the applied directly to the garden. The same goes for rabbit manure. The chicken manure from cleaning the coop however, is a hot manure, and requires about 5 months rest. Ocassionally, I will dig out the older, deeper manure which is mixed in with decomposed bark and lawn clippings. This is less likely to burn the roots when applied to the garden.

As an added bonus, there is actually a bit of wool mixed in with this manure. These bits have gone on top of our buckets to help retain some moisture. The sheep manure itself has been applied as a side dressing to all gardens (flowers and veggies); and to all the flower pots. One bag is being kept in reserve for the grow bags. 

With the weather taking care of the watering this morning, and my paperwork completed late last night for work (after 2 weeks of 11 o'clock finishes), today is going to be a me day. Some baking and and a hair appointment is on the cards.

And thank you to Kayla and the Yates Team.  What a lovely surprise to come home to. The Pukekohe Longkeepers...that was so thoughtful. Thank you. 

Letting Nature Do Its Thing