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Thank You for this article, I am thinking of building my own compost pile, do you think you can use duck manure? We have lots of that around.
You are also very right about leaves composting in the woods. We cleared out 2 acres of woods for iris and the dirt was unbelieveable, you could actually work the dirt with your hands. Here is a picture of one of the iris growing back there. Just look at the coloring, it is so deep.
duck and chicken manure is great fertilizer, after its been run thru a compost pile. or you can make a pile and let it dry out and till directly into your soil. I usually clean out the chicken coop once a year right before I till, and put it where I will plant the corn patch. that gives the soil a little extra boost and the corn loves it.
very nice iris, hope your compost pile goes well, and remember always be on the lookout for free sources, maybe even put up an add on your local craigslist (www.craigslist.com)
Cat, we raised ducks & geese in with the chickens for years and had no problems with the manure. We used leaves, softwood shavings, cedar shavings, & this year some finely shredded paper from some offices for bedding. The leaves are dark and black snakes love to hide in them in the summer. That is why we switched to the wood shavings & shredded paper. The light color provides no camoflague and the snakes are readily visible so they stay out of the birdhouse. No more lost baby chickens or pigeons or eaten eggs. Of course white shower paneling on the walls from floor to 8' up on the walls which happens to be where the rafters begin helps make slithering up the walls more difficult and again, it is white..
Thank You for the advice, I just do not want to have to much nitrogen, too much will cause iris to rot. So I did not know what duck manure would do, you never hear about it, just horse, cow, and chicken.
I hope you noticed that the manure was mixed with other materials that require nitrogen to break them down. I wouldn't put my bird house cleanings directly on an iris bed without lstting them set & 'cool' for a few weeks. I practice 'deep bedding' in the birdhouse and they are free range birds. So the concentration of manure may not be as high as yours.
