Animal manure—also known as poop or dung—can add nutrients and organic matter to soil. But manure is also a possible source of germs that can make people sick. The safest choice for a food garden is a packaged product that has been fully treated or properly composted by a reliable supplier.
- Ask an adult to read the product label and handle manure or manure compost.
- Wear gloves, avoid breathing dust, and wash your hands afterward.
- Keep manure away from play areas, water sources, and harvested vegetables.
- Treat composted manure as fertilizer. Too much can add excess salts and phosphorus, so use a soil test and follow the product’s application rate.
- Never use dog, cat, or human waste in a food garden.
Raw or uncertain manure
Manure that has only aged in a pile is not necessarily composted. If a farmer, neighbour, or supplier cannot explain how it was treated, consider it raw manure. Raw manure may contain harmful bacteria even when the animals look healthy.
For food gardens, the simplest choice is not to use raw manure. If an adult does use it, current food-safety guidance follows a long waiting period between application and harvest: at least 120 days for crops whose edible parts may touch soil, and at least 90 days for crops whose edible parts do not touch soil. Local rules or extension advice may be stricter.
Fascinating Facts!
- Manure has been used to return nutrients to fields for thousands of years.
- Its nutrient content varies with the animal, feed, bedding, storage, and treatment method.
- Proper composting uses heat and time to reduce pathogens and weed seeds; merely leaving manure in a pile is not the same process.
- Some farms capture methane from manure in a digester and use the gas as a source of energy.
- Nutrients that wash from poorly managed manure into waterways can feed harmful algal blooms, so storage and application matter.