Composted Chicken manure is a great fertilizer and helps build soil

I used to use steer manure which sold cheaply in sacks of 40 lbs. for, well, once upon a time, 99 cents. I used it for years thinking my garden was organic and at some point realized that the fertilizer came from stock yards, where the cattle were crowded together, fed inorganic feed, and given antibiotics so that my organic garden was not at all organic.

Now there are all kinds of organic fertilizers on the market, both steer manure and chicken. I prefer the chicken manure as it's a little higher nitrogen. You can get bat guano which is higher nitrogen, and now I'm thinking there is no way that bats eat badly. That has to be organic. I tried blood meal which is supposedly organic, but then it must come from cows fed organicly. There is another problem with blood meal. In my local, it attracts small animals, like racoons and squirrels, mice, who dig up the soil to get at the very meaty smell of blood. I stopped using it although it is very high nitrogen and acts quickly.

So my last trip to town I bought E.B. Stone Organic Chicken Manure for use on the heavy feeding crops like corn and tomatoes. Some people say tomatoes don't need much feeding, but I find they do much better, more disease resistence and larger fruit with lots of fertilizer.

E.B. Stone has been in business for almost 100 years and they have a full line of plant food for both garden and indoor growing. I like their understanding of organics:

"gardening organically is much more than what you don't do. When you garden organically, you think of your plants as part of a whole system within Nature that starts in the soil and includes the water supply, people, wildlife and even insects. An organic gardener strives to work in harmony with natural systems and to minimize and continually replenish any resources the garden consumes. Organic gardening, then, begins with attention to the soil. You regularly add organic matter to the soil, using locally available resources wherever possible. And everyone has access to the raw ingredients of organic matter, because your lawn, garden and kitchen produce them everyday. Decaying plant wastes, such as grass clippings, fall leaves and vegetable scraps from your kitchen, are the building blocks of compost, the ideal organic matter for your garden soil. If you add compost to your soil, you're already well on your way to raising a beautiful, healthy garden organically."

At EB Stone

May 10, 2010

Composted Chicken manure is a great fertilizer and helps build soil