Should you use Shaving-Based Manures In Your Garden?

Should you use Shaving-Based Manures In Your Garden? 

Many horse stables use wood shavings rather then straw to bed down their horses. This makes the manure easier to handle, but it does cause a few problems chief of which is “ nitrogen robbery”

Wood shavings and chipping are very high in carbon and contain only small amounts of nitrogen. If the material is added to the soil without sufficient nitrogen, then the microbes rob the soil of its available nitrogen so that they can get to work on the shavings.

Eventually, when the wood savings have decomposed, the nitrogen will be made available again. The problem is this, it may well take a year or two. In the meantime, your crops will be short of nitrogen and turn yellow and be stunted.

In my view, the best way to use this sort of manure for your deep raised bed deep raised bed is to heap it up for a year and let it rot down. Make sure that it is covered with a plastic sheet to stop the rain leaching out all the goodness and have a bit of patience.