Conditioning Soil Once you know what type of soil you have and what your plants need you can begin to condition your soil. This will increase its fertility, water retention and productivity. Manure
Animal manure, more commonly called poop, dung or quite a few other things is great for the garden. It’s not high in nutrients but it increases a plant’s ability to absorb and use what’s there over a longer period of time. This makes it very effective fertilizer. It’s usually cheap too, if you know a farmer with cows, sheep, horses or pigs who may have a whole pile of it with your name on it! Many things affect animal manure: which animal it came from what the animal ate how thoroughly it was digested what bedding the animal used how the manure has been handled and stored Manure loses 60% of its nutrients in less than 6 months if it’s left outside uncovered, but it is still a good soil conditioner. Don’t use manure from animals that have eaten meat. It becomes too acidic for plants and smells really, really, really bad. That’s why we don’t use pet dung on our gardens . . . we’ve all seen what it will do to a lawn! Most manure contains weed seeds so be sure to mulch your garden well so they don’t get a chance to grow in your vegetable and flower gardens. Caution: when using manure that has sawdust or wood shavings in it you may need to add nitrogen to the soil.
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