Benefits, Uses, and Selecting Compost Manure

It’s no secret that there are many benefits to compost manure in your vegetable garden, flower beds, hay fields, your yard, even those indoor plants that are always trying to die. 


Aged compost manure provides an incredible amount of diversity into the soil. Bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, and micronutrients. All come together to support plant growth and defend against pests and disease. It greatly enriches and conditions the soil and allows sandy soils to retain moisture – hello less watering! It also gives taxed and depleted soils plenty of nutrients. Adding it generously to compacted soil will help loosen the soil. 

In the Garden

The best time to place manure in the garden is in the fall and winter, each year. After a long growing season, soil in the garden is depleted of many nutrients as they are absorbed by plants. Replenishing the soil each year is critical to maintaining good soil health. While a neutral compost manure can be used in large amounts in the garden, it’s important to consider your crops in determining where you will be more heavy handed with it. 

Some plants are high nitrogen feeders, while other plants are nitrogen producers. Vegetable plants like lettuce, kale, spinach, and cabbage are high nitrogen feeders, meaning they require soil with high nitrogen. Crops like green beans and peas are nitrogen producers, meaning they make their own nitrogen and don’t need as much in the soil. 

Using compost manure in a larger amount in high nitrogen feeders will really make these leafy veggies thrive. Using compost manure sparingly in beds with high nitrogen producers will promote more “fruit growth” rather than producing bushy leaves. Alternatively, you could lay down a neutral compost manure, like aged and composted horse manure and top dress with poultry litter in your nitrogen feeder beds. 

compost manure garden

Selecting Compost

Compost manure that is fresh will be too “hot” and will burn plants. The term hot refers to the nitrogen. The higher the nitrogen, the “hotter” the compost. Poultry manure is very high in nitrogen. We choose horse manure, as it tends to be a little more neutral for the garden beds and customers. We use turkey and horse manure for our hay fields. The turkey litter, high in nitrogen, promotes dense pasture growth, where horse manure provides biodiversity. 

When purchasing compost manure, you want to look for an aging period of six months or longer. The composting process also breaks down the “hotness” of the nitrogen, making it more neutral and eliminates the possibility of burning plants. 

You can find compost manure at your local garden center or Home Depot/Lowes but more often than not, farmers (like us!) and horse farms will be happy to sell for a discounted price.