I didn't really care for BOSS, but I used it as a soil conditioner. Lately, I've been using bagged organic "cow & compost" I get from O'Tooles. I'm not sure if it's available in bulk, but it's worth looking in to.

I use the Home Depot steer manure as a soil additive, not really as "fertilizer." Just mix in a bag when I prep the beds in the spring. I also use this stuff called "Carbon Cal" sold through Morgan County Minerals (dad lives in Ft. Morgan, they sell it at the hardware store up there) http://www.mcm-cal.com/ theres the website if you were interest. Also bags of whatever the best value compost is since I don't make enough myself for the whole garden.

As for "fertilizers" I use whatever is handy, tomato-tone, miracle grow, jacks, fish/seaweed emulsion....

Thanks for the replies. I got my terminology mixed up. So yes, I was looking for advice on soil conditioners/amendments. I think I read somewhere that if you amend/condition your soil properly that you drastically cut your need to fertilize.

Anyways, sounds like steer manure is a good way to go. Any thoughts of other types of manure? I drove past a sign the other day advertising free llama manure... Of course, may just be easier to get the bagged stuff...

Thanks again.

one thing to be careful of with free manure from homesteads/farms is that it can be chock full of weed seeds. Now your soil has weed seeds in it anyway or it will soon enough from the air and birds, but there's no need to add them too.

The manue will add nitrogen, and probably a little bit of everything else, but it's mostly N. Which is good because that particular nutrient is the one most readily lost (through the "nitrogen cycle"). Others, such as P and K are usually found in abundance in Colorado soils naturally, and they are a lot more stable in the soil. So yes, manure is a great addition to your garden beds, I do it every single year.

I think that manure from ruminants, such as cows, is generally a lot better because they chew their cud and have several stomachs that break down weed seeds better than say, horses, which tend to pass the seeds right through. Not sure about llamas though. The bags sold at HD are also composted manure, so even more seeds will be destroyed in addition to you not having to worry as much about burning plants as you do with fresh dung.

I steer (haha) clear of animal-based products. It's just my weird thing. I used to get this fantastic all-vegetable compost at Costco and then Home Depot, but last year I couldn't find it anywhere. I just use good soil intended for raised beds or containers. I like products by Soil Mender, Maxfields Organics (a local company), and Fox Farm.

Last year I also discovered the wonders of stores geared toward the now legal marijuana growing industry. These stores have great prices and stock all sorts of products, including soil and fertilizers. Many of these are items we never were able to get before. I can buy large bags of lovely coco coir there for my tortoise at a fraction of what I used to pay for a brick at either a pet store or garden center. They are worth a look.

Thanks for all the replies. I did some research and found an outfit that sells bulk materials not too far from me. They had what they call a 'premium 3 compost' which is comprised of dairy cow manure and bedding material. Went ahead and got 1/2 a yard of it but I'm not too sure exactly what I got as it does not smell like manure at all. I picked up handfuls and just about stuck my nose in it and could not detect any manure smell. Sure looks nice though, dark and well graded.

I guess I just have to trust I got the right stuff. When my neighbors had their garden going, I always new when they brought in manure. I could smell it from my yard and the smell lingered for at least a few days.....

The manure has either been composted first or has over time sitting in the yard. Only fresh manure will have a strong smell.

Composted manure is better for a spring application because fresh can have the possibility of being way to high in N which can lead to fertilizer burn. Fresh manure is better to add in the fall so it has a chance to break doen.

Sounds to me as if you got the right stuff, jagermeister. As Zach said, there should be no smell of manure if it is properly aged and composted - you sure don't want to put fresh manure on your garden unless you want to burn it to hell, let alone having the possibility of infecting your veggies - and thus yourself - with E. coli. :-O

These days you sort of have to ignore that fact that most steers and cows are probably full of artificial hormones, antibiotics, and who knows what else, and thus who knows what else might be in the manure besides the good stuff you want, but I use dairy cow manure to mix in with my garden soil and in the potting mix I use in my veggie containers. I buy it in bags from Paulino Gardens; pretty cool that you found a local source that will deliver in bulk to you.

I am not sure that the comparatively few bags of manure I buy every year would make any difference to the composition of my garden soil, and I have no idea if it is still true - or ever was, lol - but from the research I did, steer manure (which is usually from slaughterhouse feed lots) has more weed seeds and salts in it than does dairy cow manure, (which, I am sure this will shock you to know, comes from dairy farms) so that is why I decided dairy cow manure was "better" than steer manure. As long as it is well composted, I imagine it doesn't make a difference in a home garden as to which type of bovine manure is being used; we're not talking about putting yards and yards of manure on a farm field, after all.

Now, about Llama manure - did some quick research and it sounds as if it is an excellent soil amendment and if I were you I would definitely get some of that free Llama manure you saw advertised; wish I had a source of it! And Llama manure (apparently called "Llama beans" by those in the know, lol, not to be confused with Lima beans) doesn't need to be composted, either, you can just dig the manure pellets right into your garden soil. Here is a quote from this article, Llama manure is magic in the garden:

"According to David Tarrant, many gardeners consider llama beans to be the finest manure for the garden: “Its fine texture and natural pelleted form aid in a slow release, reducing the chance of burning to garden plants. It has loads of trace elements and minerals, as well as plenty of nitrogen and potassium. The llama beans can be added to the garden or compost or used to create a garden tea.” "

Holly