Substitute for homemade compost?

[amandaleigh37]

Last year was our first real garden. We have 8 raised beds (4x8 feet each). We did not use compost, fertilizer, or anything at all, and everything grew pretty well. We were happy with it

We did start a compost pile last summer, but it is not ready to be used (and wouldn't be nearly enough anyway). Since I'm still a newbie gardener, I've been reading as much as I can to make this year even more successful. I know I should be doing something to enrich our soil, but not sure what.

I saw there are bags of "composted manure" at Ace hardware on sale. Is this stuff good/ok to use? I know homemade compost is best, and hopefully we can get our composting working better so we will have some to use for next year. In the meantime, what should I add to our soil (that I can buy or find easily?). I'm in Indiana.

Oh and should I do a soil test? Where do I get one? I've looked at local stores that have gardening stuff but haven't seen any...

Thanks in advance for any help!

[limette]

For veggies I wouldn't bother with a soil test. Composted manure is great for the garden, buy it at the store or get some from a farm.

[amandaleigh37]

Great, thanks for the reply! Do you have any idea how much I should add? 1-2 inches?

[root*children]

Yup, a couple inches of old manure would suffice.  I've also dug in not-quite-ready compost and it's fine.  I use compost when I plant new things, just a shovel/trowel-full into the hole before the plant or seeds go in.

[Owen'nZoe]

I've also had to buy the bags of composted manure in the past when I haven't had enough of my own compost. It works well! I've heard really great things about Duck Doo (composted duck droppings), but it sells for $7 a bag where I live, and I can get 3 bags of cow manure for that.

I've also buried my partially finished compost under the soil as soon as the soil could be worked in the spring. By planting time, it is usually broken down quite well.

What I've taken to in the past couple years, though, is trench composting. This is how my grandma always composted, and I've found that it works best for me. I live in a suburb where compost piles are not allowed, so I have two of the approved plastic Earth Machines. They work very slowly, had to be placed in an inconvenient spot for me, and don't hold all of my compostables. Digging my compostables right into the soil solves all of the problems I have with composting - and my gardens are doing really, really well. It might be something you'd want to consider going forward.