Direct composting to improve soil in a problem area

I have clay soil and use horse manure on it because we have horses... Yes, it's weedy but they're easy to hoe off when they're small. It's improved the soil hugely over the years.

Is 'direct composting' where you dig a trench, put in your waste and then cover it over? Unless it's a small patch I think it would take a lot of kitchen waste to be effective. But you could add shredded paper and thin layers of grass clippings.

If you have trees around you, you could make leaf mould to use as a soil improver, too, If you run the lawn mower over them, then put the shredded leaves in bags and keep them moist they should be rotted enough to use as a mulch in the spring.

Jeanie the horticultural manure is from garden centres p, in large bags under different names, often sold as soil improver.

I also spread chicken pellets on the flower beds in the spring.

We no longer keep chickens and I miss the fantastic results we used to get from their manure.

When I cleaned out the coops I would put the dirty straw in old compost bags because they stand upright when full so easy to stack. I would use them in a 'no dig lasagne' (Charles Dowding) layered with old newspapers and comfrey leaves.

The horse manure we pick up from a friend is also put in old compost bags. We then tip them on a section of our large compost area where it rots until we need to use it.

We've used very well rotted horse manure which had turned to soil and yes, we do have a lot of weeds!
Also well rotted compost of vegetable peelings and garden waste which is now soil.
The soil was very poor when we moved in and is limestone with heavy clay, green in places.

This year we seem to be getting some better results, however we also bought bags of manure from the garden centre as we couldn't get our usual source due to the very wet winter followed by lockdown.

Another gardener here with heavy clay soil. I've tried a few different methods to improve soil quality:
digging in farm manure; this provided better drainage but the soil became more acidic and so some of the plants in that area suffered and had to be moved. Manure was possibly not rotted enough, in hindsight.
Laying a compost mulch; kept weeds down and increased fertility but actually worsened drainage.
Digging in mushroom compost; this was the best option. Improved overall soil quality, drainage and fertility. And was inexpensive too.

use only well rotted horse manure (at least one year old) and make sure it comes from a yard that has not had aminopyralid sprayed on the grass/hay - otherwise your legumes and other veg will die. Chlorapyralid is the same - its been a real concern.

jeanie sounds strange to me that you have so many different types of soil. Has your land been used for building in the past?
I agree about clay soil which we had in our last proper garden. Difficult to work but very fertile.
Another good source of manure - if you have room for a few chickens, their soiled bedding helps to improve compost.
Another idea - husband got some cow muck from a local farmer, put it in a large dustbin and covered with water. Eventually he used the fluid to water our strawberry beds (in an etangere) and the results were good.

How big is your garden? Try and site a compost heap as far away from the house as possible.

We use horse manure on our empty raised beds in the autumn/winter - mixed in with home-made compost but we always cover each bed with a layer of terram to prevent weeds from germinating. We still get some but they're much easier to remove.

What is horticultural manure?

I've just Googled it and couldn't find any info.

In the early spring, before we plant the raised beds, I cut up all the banana skins and citrus peel, crush the eggshells and burry them in the beds. No problem with rats, or anything else digging up.
We follow the no dig method, so before we start the veg plot we put a very thick layer of horticultural manure ( it’s pure, so no weeds) all over.
You should encourage worms they are good for the soil, as leaves and other impurities pass through them.

Will you not have a problem with rats ? And, once the vegetables are in the ground if you do have a rat problem it will be difficult to remove all the vegetable scraps if you need to.