I own two beautiful horses. In the summer they live out in their field 24/7 but in the winter they are out during the day and in a stable at night.
I bed one of them on Aubiose, which is shredded hemp; and the other on ProBed, which is made from chopped & shredded rape haulm. I chose these beddings partly because they both rot down quickly. From the two stables I get about one and a half wheelbarrows of soiled bedding and poo a day which is stacked in my muck heap.
this is my muck heap today, about half way through the winter
When the clocks change in March the horses go out in to their field leaving me with a muck heap that is about 12’*5’*3’ which will rot down over the summer to about 2/3 that size.
Once the end of the veg growing season has been reached, about October, when the horses need to come back in and I need the muck heap empty again, I put the rotted muck about 4 inches deep over my cleared beds in the Polytunnel and the veg patch (I would also like to put a load on my flower bed but it’s been so wet the last 2 years I’ve not been able to get the weeding done in time). This has the great advantage of keeping the weeds at bay until I want to plant something and the muck is in the right place to enrich my soil for my veggies.
here’s a picture of my veg garden today. you can see the muck on about half of it
If you do not have horses but you want muck it is very easy to get hold of. Most horse owners have to pay to have their muck heaps removed so most are happy to get rid of it to gardeners. They may make a small charge if it is already bagged but if you are happy to provide the bags and bag it yourself I’m sure you can find it for free!
Check what the bedding is made of though, personally I would not use the muck if they have been bedded on wood shavings as I’m sure I read somewhere that because the wood is not treated first if there were any diseases in the wood, they will still be in the muck, also wood takes much, much, longer to rot down. Also look out for hay,straw or haylage in the muck. It is unlikely to have ended up in the muck heap in large quantities as it is expensive, but if you can see large lumps of hay or straw then avoid this as again it takes a long time to rot down.
If you have a muck heap like me then this is a fabulous place to grow things like squashes, pumpkins and melons as they can’t get enough muck!
Here’s a picture of some pumpkins I grew in 2012
and no, the horse is not dead, just having a kip
pennywise2014 