Animal waste that is good for composts and fertilizers

Here is a compost/fertilizing question that I received from a Matt:

I hope that this question isn’t too shocking, but I’ve been doing research on composts and fertilizers for small gardens and just wonder whether you know which types of animal waste are good composts/fertilizers and which aren’t.

The Garden Lady thinks this is a very important question; it is not shocking at all.  The manure from animals that are Herbivores Vegetarian, like horses, cows or elephants  is excellent for composting and fertilizers. Just be sure the manure is not fresh when you use it on your garden. That is why it should be composted or you can make a “tea” of the manure by soaking it in lots of water to dilute it. The types of animal manure that are NOT good for composting or fertilizers are from animals that are carnivores/meat eaters- like dog or human wastes. Contact your local zoo, farm or equestrian center to see if they will sell or give some manure to you. Urine is not good for a garden because it has too much nitrogen/ ammonia and can burn the plants. If dogs pee on your grass or plants, water the area copiously to dilute it.

Christmas flowers and plants

One of my faithful readers, Stephanie, and her husband are getting excited about Christmas.  Here are three questions she had about Christmas flowers and plants.

1. Are there any pretty Christmas/winter plants for the outside?

2. Besides the Christmas tree and the poinsettia, are there any other nice indoor Christmas plants?

3. Do you happen to know which types of Christmas trees tend to have the longest lives?

Here are my answers.

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Poinsettias

The Garden Lady has received a request to speak about a different plant each week. Life is filled with such wonderful things happening, I don’t know if I can find the time to write about a different plant every week; but I will certainly try.
 
The first plant I want to speak about is the Poinsettia.

 

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Acidic Soil

Cindy sent me the following question about acidic soil. 

I found your site searching for “acidic soil” because I think my soil might be too acidic and wanted to know how to find out and what to do about it. In general I’m just trying to figure out how to tell whether soil is good soil or bad soil.  Are there easy tests that I can run on the soil in my backyard to know whether the soil is good or whether it needs to be supplemented in some way?

Keep on reading to see my answer.

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Nutritious edible plants

The following question was sent to me by David:

Are there any plants that are especially healthy to eat?  The reason I ask is that I am coping with a lifelong manageable disease and have been told that one of the keys to managing the disease is my diet.  I’m supposed to avoid processed foods and stick with natural foods.  I eat a lot of garlic and also honey, but I was wondering if there are any other plants that are known to be especially healthy?

Here is my reply.

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The latest time of year to plant shrubs and bushes in the Mid-Atlantic

Today TheGardenLady.org received this question from Stephanie:

I was wondering what the latest time of year in the Mid-Atlantic region that you should plant shrubs and bushes. 

Before I answer Stephanie’s specific question, I want to tell both Stephanie and all my readers about one of the best, if not the best, gardening resource to go to or to call with any and all questions related to gardening. This is the organization called the Master Gardeners. 

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