Where To Get Manure For Your Garden (Just Never Do This!)


Using manure in your garden is a great way to provide nutrients and organic material for your soil. Even if you don’t have any animals, there are plenty of ways to find manure to add to your soil.

So, where can you get manure for your garden?  One good source of manure is anyone in your area who keeps chickens, cows, horses, goats, or rabbits. You can also get manure delivered from garden or landscaping centers. Another option is to buy manure at a store like Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Tractor Supply. You can even keep your own chickens to get manure in addition to eggs.

Once you find manure, you need to be careful about how you handle it and when you use it in your garden. Some manure has harmful parasites and bacteria if it is not fully decomposed.

Let’s look at the types of manure you can use and the benefits of each, along with how to use it, and some cautions about manure.


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Where To Get Manure For Your Garden

There are plenty of ways to find manure if you want some for your garden. The simplest but most expensive way is to buy it.

One way is to ask friends or family if they know anyone who keeps chickens, horses, or rabbits at home. They might not want to deal with the waste, or they might have extra manure you can use.

You can keep animals yourself to provide a steady supply of manure. One benefit of keeping chickens is that they produce manure that is high in nitrogen.

This nitrogen is released over time as the manure breaks down. Another benefit of keeping chickens: they also provide you with eggs.

chicken wire
Chickens provide both manure and eggs, so they make a good choice as a source of manure.

It might be more convenient to order manure online, or get it delivered from a garden center, such as Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Types Of Manure For Your Garden

Now that you know where to get manure, the question is, what type should you use? Manure will have a different nutrient profile depending on which animal it came from.

Manure actually consists of animal waste and bedding (for example, pine shavings or sawdust). Bedding contains carbon, which is necessary for plant life.

manure
Manure can contain both animal waste and bedding such as straw or wood chips.

Animal waste contains nitrogen, in addition to other nutrients, such as phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). The level of nitrogen varies depending on the animal that the manure came from.

“Cold” manure contains less nitrogen, and “hot” manure contains more nitrogen. For more information, check out this article from Fine Gardening about nutrient levels in manure.

Let’s see how some common animal manure stacks up, in terms of their nutritional content.

Cow Manure

Cow manure is the “coldest” of the manures mentioned here, meaning it has the lowest levels of nitrogen (only about 0.5% by weight). So, it is more difficult to “burn” your plants with too much nitrogen if you are using cow manure, rather than other types.

manure
Cow manure has low nitrogen content, so it is less likely to burn your plants than other types.

Cow manure also has rather low levels of phosphorus and potassium compared to manure from other animals. However, it will be easy to get it if you live near someone who raises dairy or beef cattle.

Horse Manure

Horse manure has slightly more nitrogen than cow manure, and the same or lower levels of phosphorus and potassium. You can find some from a friend or neighbor who keeps and rides horses at home.

You might also be able to get some from a local horse boarder. Often, they have more than they can keep up with.

One place near me is in trouble for environmental issues due to a large pile of horse manure. They are happy to have people haul it away for free!

Sheep Manure

Sheep manure has about twice the nitrogen content of cow or horse manure. Sheep manure also has about twice the phosphorus and potassium content of cow or horse manure, making it a good addition to your soil once it decomposes fully.

Poultry Manure (Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Turkeys)

Poultry manure is the hottest of the manures listed here, meaning it has the highest nitrogen content by weight. In fact, poultry manure has 3 times the nitrogen content of cow and horse manure – perhaps higher!

Poultry manure also contains way more phosphorus (over ten times as much) and potassium (over 3 times as much) than cow and horse manure. This makes poultry manure the ultimate choice if you want to replace lost nutrients in your soil!

How To Apply Manure To Your Garden

Once you decide on a type of manure and find a reliable source, there is still some work to do. You need to pick up the manure, or have someone bring it to your garden.

Then, you need to let the manure compost, or “age”, for at least 4 months before applying it to your garden. There are two reasons for doing this:

  • (1) This is enough time to neutralize harmful pathogens in the soil. Remember that manure can contain E. coli, salmonella, listeria, roundworms, and tapeworms (among other things!)
  • (2) Letting your manure sit allows it to break down into a form that is more readily available to your plants. You can speed up the process by adding worms to your manure pile.
earthworm
Worms speed up the manure composting process.

You don’t need a special place for the manure – you can make a pile anywhere in your yard that is convenient. Just make sure to keep it far away from neighbors to avoid a smell. Also, make it inaccessible to animals (some dogs love to roll in the stuff – yes, really … ask me how I know!)

If you want, you can mix the manure in with any compost you have produced. For more information, check out my article on making compost.

If you don’t have a place outside of your garden to keep the manure, then make sure to put it in your garden in the fall, after everything has been harvested. This will give the manure plenty of time to compost before you plant in the spring.

Cautions About Manure

There are a few things to be careful about when you use manure in your garden. You need to be careful about the source, and also avoid using manure from certain animals.

Don’t Use Manure From Cats, Dogs, Pigs, Or Humans

Do not use manure from cats, dogs, pigs, or humans should in your garden, even if it has time to decompose. These animals usually consume meat, and so their manures can contain parasites & diseases outside of what you might see from cows, horses, sheep, and chickens.


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Don’t Use Fresh Manure Directly On Plants

As mentioned above, you should wait to let your manure age for 4 months or more before using it in your garden. If you apply “fresh” (uncomposted) manure directly to your garden, you are inviting disease.

Whenever it rains or you water your garden, water can splash up onto leaves or fruits. If the manure has not aged enough, the water can contaminate your garden produce.

rain on tomato plant
Rain can splash up on plants and contaminate them if fresh manure is used.

If you do put fresh manure in your garden, be sure that there will be at least 4 months between application of the manure and harvest.

Be especially careful with carrots, beets, radishes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and so forth. With these plants, the part that we eat (the root, tuber, etc.) is in direct contact with the soil.

In addition, remember that fresh manure can burn your plants with too much available nitrogen all at once. For more information, check out my article on over fertilizing your plants.

Use Manure From Healthy Animals

Make sure your own animals are healthy before you use their manure as a source of fertilizer for your garden. Also, make sure to ask about the health of the animals if you get manure from someone else.

Beware Of Antibiotics, Herbicides, & Pesticides In Manure

Many small and large farmers use antibiotics to keep their animals healthy. Unfortunately, these antibiotics can show up in their manure, which negatively affects the beneficial bacteria in your garden.

Some places use herbicides and pesticides to keep weeds and bugs (flies, etc.) off of manure piles. Make sure to ask before you use manure for your garden.

Watch Out For Weed Seeds In Manure

Many animals will eat weeds and their seeds, which end up undigested in their manure. These seeds can sprout in your manure pile, compost pile, or garden, so be mindful of this fact. Otherwise, you will be dealing with weeds (unwanted plants of an unknown origin).

weeds
Watch out for weeds that grow from manure piles.

Be Careful When Watering

As mentioned above, you can splash contaminated water onto your plants when watering, so don’t pour or spray from high up. Pour slowly, from close to the ground, to avoid splashing.

Better yet, use a drip irrigation system to avoid splashing (and save water at the same time).

Wash & Cook Vegetables

The best way to counter any pathogens or diseases that survived your other precautions is to wash and cook your vegetables thoroughly before eating. For example, steam or boil your spinach instead of eating it raw in a salad.

Frequently Asked Questions About Manure

There are a few questions that you might still have about using manure in your garden, so let’s address them briefly.

Why Should I Use Manure In My Garden?

Manure helps to supply the “big three” nutrients (NPK, or nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) to your soil, in addition to other micronutrients.

cracked clay soil
Adding manure to clay soil will help to improve drainage.

Manure also improves the structure of your soil by adding organic material (humus). This improves drainage for clay soils (preventing root rot) and improves water retention in sandy soils (preventing plants from drying out).

Do I Need to Add Anything to Manure?

Some manure is high in nitrogen, but not as high in phosphorus or potassium. In some plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, etc., this could lead to excessive green growth at the expense of flowers and fruits.

If you are worried about this, you can use a fertilizer providing only P and/or K (no nitrogen) to your manure before adding it to your garden. For more information, check out my article on low-nitrogen fertilizers.

Will Manure Burn My Plants?

Fresh manure may burn your plants if you apply it directly around your plants, without aging the manure.

Since manure contains waste products from animals, it will contain some salts and other things that could harm your plants. That is why it is best to let it age for 4 months or more before using it in your garden.

How Do I Know When the Manure Is Ready To Use?

Quite simply, the manure is ready to use when there is no more smell. The manure will break down into small pieces. At that point, it will look more like dirt than animal waste.

Compost
The look and smell of manure will tell you when it is composted and ready for use in your garden.

Conclusion

Now you have a good idea of where you can get manure, how to use it properly, and what to look out for when applying it.

I hope this article was helpful – if so, please share it with someone who can use the information.


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~Jonathon


Jon M

Hi, I'm Jon. Let's solve your gardening problems, spend more time growing, and get the best harvest every year!

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