2009 “Get It Garden” Challenge – a sustainable garden choice – the Buffalo Manure Compost Adventure

Welcome to the 2009 Casual Gardener “Get It Garden” Challenge!! The challenge: create a garden that makes a difference in your life and your community, then share it with The Casual Gardener readers.

Ah yes… the great buffalo adventure. What does a buffalo and my garden have in common you ask? Poop. Yep, I said it. Poop. This year as part of the “Get It Garden” Challenge, I have decided to try an experiment and add a rotted buffalo manure called “Buff Stuff” to my vegetable garden bed. 

I was shocked to find out what almost 200 bags of rotted buffalo manure looks like on top of the new garden in my front yard (see above) – 200 bags at 25 lbs each equals 5000 lbs of buffalo manure which my 8 year old daughter and I moved in one weekend. Uh yeah – I AM crazy, thank you for pointing that out. And yes, I am completely and totally filthy in the photo above – Harry and I are covered with soil and Buff Stuff compost. Notice how happy I am. Gardening rocks!

For years I have been adding rotted manure to my garden beds as a supplemental compost. It increases the nutrient and Nitrogen content slightly, but equally important, manure supplies valuable organic matter that helps improve soils physical properties and increase the activity of soil microbes. Amazingly, about half of the total food eaten by animals is turned into manure. Recycling animal manure as fertilizer for gardens and lawns not only increases yield and improves the soil condition, it also helps prevent environmental pollution, which makes it a sustainable choice.

Adding compost is an important part of helping your soil for a vegetable garden. If you would like to try buffalo compost, Buff Stuff is made by Limpert Environmental. When I told the makers of Buff Stuff what I wanted to do with rotted buffalo manure, they sent the product out to me at no charge. I agreed to this on the condition that I can be absolutely and positively honest about the experience with my readers. I will be giving you updates throughout the growing season. Wish me luck!

Remember, as you follow along and build your garden, please send  photos and details to me, Shawna Coronado, and I will post your successes – and your failures – so we can all learn how to make a difference with a garden. Please send anything you can – what do you do with all the vegetables you harvest for instance? Will you sell them for additional family income? Will you give them away to local food banks? My readers want to know ALL the details.

Let’s build a garden together! Please join the 2009 Casual Gardener “Get It Garden” Challenge today and help make a difference for yourself and your community.