raised bed and manure-please help

[crebourret]

got my allotment in late January. it was in a real mess... so a created beds, weeds them, dig them up, put manure in the some of the beds, except the ones i was going to plant root veg. the last bed to get manure was a week and a bit ago. lot of work, but it looks great ( OK maybe just better, def. better...) but now I'm ready to plant some of the stuff and off course the manure (2 years old I've been told) is still in large clumps and obv. the winter weather have not done is work... what are your suggestions? how can i make it into a "fine tilth? will the seeds and the seedlings be OK on "contact with the manure" will it not just be too much?please help javascript:emoticon(':?')
Confused

[Wombat]

G'DAy Crebourret,

If the manure was your usual herbivore (horse, cow etc) the seeds and seedlings should be OK. The real problem is fresh chook (or other bird) poo because of the high nitrogen content which will "burn" the young plants. After aging for a couple of years though, even the chook poo should be OK.

To reduce the tilth for seeding etc. have you tried breaking things up with a hoe, or maybe a 3 - tine cultivator? Chop up the surface with the hoe (oh my aching back!) or drag the cultivator across the top, which will break some bits up or at least drag the big ones out of the way.

Hope this helps and lots of luck!

Nev

[diver]

hi, why not see if anyone on the allotments has a rotavator..I won't use them because they break up any couch grass roots that I've missed but lots of people on my site use them each year to break the soil up before putting the seedlings in....good luck