I have lots of horse compost. I keep some for 3 to 4 years before I use it. Since I use wood shavings, I want it to break down, as I understand that wood can hold the Nitrogen. I just put a bunch of it on and till it in. When I'm not too lazy, I like to do it the fall, but that doesn't always happen. I have some chicken manure too, that works really well, but don't have enough of that. I never use any commercial fertilizers on my veggies. I heat with wood, so I've been putting the wood ashes on the garden too, but now I'm hearing that it might not be a good idea. I was told years ago that I should put down a layer of wood ashes to keep cut worms out. I used to do that, but I haven't had trouble with then without doing that, so I don't any more.
