Tigerdawn,
You said the growing tips of your bulbs were burned. How fresh was the manure? I use manure from my pens on a regular basis and hardly ever see that. Was it bought? On my flower and asparagus beds I won't be tilling or cultivating in any way because of established root systems I add the mix I make or something similar to Tomato Tone and lightly rake it in. If I feel they need a little more I will add an inch or less of horse manure. Which is usually every 3-4 years. Although I haven't added any to the beds in 3 years. I usually add a light layer of leaves and I then usually cover it with a layer of straw or hay mulch. On some of my perennial beds I can't add the straw or leaves without covering the plants. There I add my additives and lightly rake and then sprinkle a little good compost. Then let the worms work it in for me. Where you said you would be planting tomatoes and sweet potatoes ect I would just prepare each hole as you transplant the plants. Add whatever you like to use. Tomato Tone or anything else you like. For the established plants you can sprinkle the fertilizer you have or any one you prefer and lightly rake it in and water. If it was me I would cover with a mulch cover. That might not be as important as it is here in our extreme dry conditions. Keeping the soil moist will help what you add move into the soil and begin to work. In the end I usually do a lot like Dawn says she does. I look at the soil and plants and let them tell me what I need to add or do. I have beds that haven't been tilled in 10 years that are still looking and doing well. Jay

I used commercial bagged manure. I didn't rake it in or anything, just added a layer of it. The soil seems to have a lot of decaying mulch in it and I keep at least an inch or so on the bed all the time. I'll try my organic fertilizer and see how that works for now.

My way is about the same as Jay's. I mulch leaves, straw, etc on top and let the worms and time do the work. I have, in the past, tilled stuff in in the fall but only when I was jumpstarting rock-hard clay in new areas. I much prefer the lazier way, though. You'd be surprised how quickly it gets worked in.

Diane

My way is the same as Jay's and Diane's, except for new beds. I do use a rototiller in new beds.

If all you ever do is apply mulch, compost, or even organic fertilizers, etc. as a 'side dressing' on the ground around your plants, those materials will be carried down into the soil over time. Rain carries some of the ingredients down into the ground, earthworms and other soil-dwelling critters do the rest. When you pull weeds, that action allows some of the upper mulch type materials to go down into the soil and the same thing happens when you use a trowel to plant things.

If you never do anything but pile mulch up on the surface of the ground for the rest of your life, you'll still end up with great soil.

I'll use our woodland as an example. We have very thick, dense red clay on all of our property. In a few cases, the clay is deeper down and there's a shallow layer of sand or silt on top of it. In most of the area, all we have is that red clay. In the woodland, though, we have about 8-10" of dark brownish-black, rich, humusy soil that is incredible. It has formed, of course, from the decomposition of leaves, wood, and even the bodies of insects and animals that die in the woods and decay there. No one (except, perhaps, the armadilloes or squirrels while digging) goes into the woods and rototills the organic matter into the clay subsoil every year, but over time the nutrients from that humusy soil work their way down into the clay too and even improve it.

I do have a little Mantis cultivator that I sometimes like to use to work large amounts of organic matter into a vegetable bed that is being rennovated during the off season, but I know I shouldn't ever use it except when amending new soil. Rototilling or even heavy digging destroy the structure of the soil and neither one is especially good for it because they can lead to compaction. When earthworms and other soil dwellers, including all the various forms of microscopic life in the soil, tunnel through the soil, they leave little tunnel-like passageways that allow moisture, roots, and nutrients to move easily through the soil. These little passageways are an important part of soil structure, so the less we disturb our soil, the better it is.

I used to think I had to rototill every bed before planting every year because that's what we did when I was growing up. It has taken me a long time to come to the realization that the less I disturb already-amended soil, the better for it.

Nowadays, I try to focus on mulching, mulching, mulching. I bet I add at least 12" of mulch to each garden bed each year (over the course of the season, not all in one day)because I use a lot of ingredients like grass clippings from our lawn, old spoiled hay or straw, and chopped/shredded leaves and they break down and decompose very quickly, feeding the soil in the process.

I'd be surprised if the cow manure burnt your bulbs' foliage, especially if you were using standard bagged cow manure that was not labeled "100% Cow Manure". Most bagged cow manure sold nowadays (except the Black Kow brand) is not 100% manure and is, instead, lots of filler, and the filler usually is very poor quality black clay. Most bagged cow manure has "up to 10% manure" so you probably couldn't burn plants with it if you tried. I've added large amounts of Black Kow 100% manure with no fillers to my garden beds and never have had it burn plants. If 100% cow manure won't burn plants, I don't think 10% would. Whatever happened to your plants, I don't think it was the fault of the manure. I've never added really fresh "local" manure to my beds because it has to be composted first in order to kill all the weed seeds and by the time it is composted there's nothing in it that would harm plants. However, because of all the issues with herbicide contamination, I don't use local manure any more because the ranchers here routinely use purchased hay to supplement their own pasture forage, and there's no telling what herbicides might have been sprayed on those purchased bales of hay when it was grown. If I used manure (any manure) and had issues develop after that, I'd be more likely to suspect herbicide contamination than to blame the manure itself.

If your beds need nutrition now, I'd top dress the soil with a good organic fertilizer, and pile mulch on top of it so that rain (if it ever rains again) and irrigation water will carry the materials into the ground. If you don't mulch on top of the top-dressed fertilizers, they can be washed away by heavy rainfall or irrigation.

You can, of course, use a hand trowel to work the organic matter deeper into the soil, but it is a lot of unnecessary work because the organic matter will get worked in over time.

I just top dressed my onion beds this past week and will mulch them as soon as the wind stops blowing 25-40 mph which probably won't be until Tuesday. I wish I already had mulched them, but you have to work with the weather you have, and this windy weather is making it hard to get things done outside. If I tried to mulch yesterday, today, or even tomorrow, my mulch would end up blowing into another state.

Dawn

Tigerdawn it sounds like what you are doing should be ok. I would imagine it was the commercial bagged manure. I'm not a big fan of most of what is available. I have found a product from Humalfa made at the Shattuck, OK branch I like as well as any product I've found available on the retail market around here. I will attach a link to their site. They are a CO company with an OK branch. A local nursery owner convinced me to try it and I have to say I like it. I have added a small amount to my containers and also some of the beds. I usually don't buy much of anything except for the containers so I haven't used a lot but what I've used has been a quality product. Your practices sound good. I do like to lightly rake or even brush growing plants off after applying anything. Many times products with iron, sulfur,fertilizer, ect will burn or discolor leaves if left on them. Usually a light raking or a good brushing with a broom will help prevent that. Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Humalfa

Could they have started their growth and then been frozen on top. I noticed yesterday that I have a plant like that. Spring growth started then the cold weather hit it.

A lot of my daffs were burned at the top as well, I think they were just frozen really hard.

The daffs coould have been frozen. When I called the bulb place they suggested the manure so that's what I thought it was.

Thanks for all the affirmation. I'll keep adding OM and mulch.