How would you handle this?
You have a garden spot that has very poor dirt. You decide that you will get manure and put on the entire area. The manure is well seasoned and you put it down about two inches thick.
All of this is done without doing any soil test. Yes you can buy the test kits at the big box stores or send them off for testing, but If none of these options are available, what would you do? I know that there are different types of manure, so pick the one that you can get the easiest and or the most of.
Here are the questions:
Do you till it in and plant?
Do you till it in and wait a year before planting to let the ground get all the nutrients it can before planting?
Do you let it stay on top of the soil for a year and then till it in next year?
After the manure has been on the garden for one year, how long do you wait before adding more and how would you determine how much to add?
John