diff --git a/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/config-sample.yaml b/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/config-sample.yaml
index 1ab38ab..19e0f05 100644
--- a/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/config-sample.yaml
+++ b/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/config-sample.yaml
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@
     ramOvercommit: 1.5
 
     # Additional metadata (labels and annotations) to be merged
-    # into the service
-    # additionalServiceMetdata:
+    # into the service. Must be provided as nested YAML
+    # additionalServiceMetadata: |
     #   labels: {}
-    #   annotations: {} 
+    #   annotations: {}
 
     # Only for development:
     # namespace: vmop-dev
diff --git a/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/src/org/jdrupes/vmoperator/manager/ServiceReconciler.java b/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/src/org/jdrupes/vmoperator/manager/ServiceReconciler.java
index 3a9ed98..008f676 100644
--- a/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/src/org/jdrupes/vmoperator/manager/ServiceReconciler.java
+++ b/org.jdrupes.vmoperator.manager/src/org/jdrupes/vmoperator/manager/ServiceReconciler.java
@@ -97,8 +97,10 @@ import org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.SafeConstructor;
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         var asmData = Optional.of(model)
             .map(m -> (Map<String, Object>) m.get("config"))
-            .map(c -> (Map<String, Object>) c.get("additionalServiceMetadata"))
-            .orElseGet(() -> new HashMap<>());
+            .map(c -> (String) c.get("additionalServiceMetadata"))
+            .map(y -> (Map<String, Object>) new Yaml(
+                new SafeConstructor(new LoaderOptions())).load(y))
+            .orElseGet(() -> new HashMap<String, Object>());
         var json = channel.client().getJSON();
         JsonObject cfgMeta
             = json.deserialize(json.serialize(asmData), JsonObject.class);