Now is the time to stock your garden with some great crap! Planting is still a month or so out so adding nutrient to your garden soil is a great idea.

Not all crap is great! Your cat and pet waste are better buried in a waste composter. Parasites and diseases are found in dog and cat waste. It is best addressed in other ways. Once it has been composted, you can ad it to non-fruit trees and shrubs, but not food crops.

In the past I have used Llama, horse, beef, and chicken waste in my vegetable garden. The secret is to get OLD, Seasoned waste. Don’t add the fresh stuff. Usually I look for aged, manure dirt. This waste looks like rich dirt. Preferably, waste is best after 2-3 years.

My hunting buddy and Cowboy Terry has a herd of horses. That means a big stockpile of manure. I called him up and grabbed my Son’s old Ford long bed truck. Terry dumped several tractor buckets of rich, aged, manure into the truck bed. There was no crappy odor. Just rich, brown soil. It did have some large chunks and lumps that were easily chopped up.

Most horse and Llama farmers will give their old manure away for free. They are happy to get rid of it and see it going to use. Later in the Summer, you can stop by and share some of your garden crop.

I backed the old Ford into my yard and began to unload my bounty of manure. Every tree and shrub got a shovel full. My raised beds were topped off, and I began some new gardens. The finer shovel full got tossed across the lawn. All organic!

The other wonderful thing about manure in the garden is fish bait! Worms love manure. As I began turning the new manure into my vegetable garden, I loaded up on a bounty of fat earthworms.

The worms will help catch dinner later after the manure magic is spread.

Montana Grant

For more Montana Grant, find him in muck boots at www.montanagrantfishing.com.