soil from sheep poop

Hello. This is my first post. I am making my first raised bed to plant vegtables in next spring. I live in the Outer Hebrides and we dont have any real soil. I have made my bed from rocks and have room from about 14 inches of soil depth...
The trouble is I dont really have any soil. The land around me is peat and rock, so I can get peat dust.. I thought maybe I could use that and mix it with sheep poop...
There are some buildings on the moors with 4 foot deep old sheep poop in them. I have collected bags of this.

Has anyone got any idea if I mix old sheep poop and peat dust if that will be good enough to grow stuff in...

I have some top soil but very little maybe only about 10% and it is very sandy. I also have some compost I made myself that I can mix in...
Will this be ok as a growing medium...

thank you....

kx)

 

Hi purple & Welcome to Gardeners Corner.

Peat is good, although lacking in nutrient, the sheep poo is great, lob it all together with your compost & you've got the start of some soil.

Might be a bit on the acidic side so if you can get hold of some lime that would help. Anywhere near the sea ? Seaweed will add trace elements although its best left in the rain for a while to wash the salt out before composting it.

 

thank you and yes i am near the sea, I have cliffs on three sides and can get sea weed no problem.. Is it too late to add some sea weed to my soil mix now for spring use....

 

It should have rotted down by then. If you can get fish offal from the harbour then rot that down in a mixture of wood ash & urine, that'll make a good fertilizer.

 

Burnt sheep bones can be treated with sulphuric acid to make a fertilizer too.

Beeton's Dictionary of Industries ... - Samuel Orchart Beeton - Google Books

I'm guessing there will be a few of them lying around.

 

Hi purplemer.

Probably a dumb question, but is there no way you could 'buy in' some top soil? I'd imagine that since you say you're making your first raised bed, you might not need that much? You'd only have to buy it the once :thumb:

Cheers...Freddy.

 

Well I will try and get some fish offal, it sounds like it would smell bad when i am making compost from it... I cant get wood ash as there are no trees here but i can get peat ash i know that is non toxic to the ground so i am sure that would work... There are sheep bones around but i am not sure about getting acid.....
thank you for all your tips though. I am happy i can make some soil now.... I am going to try and grow kale, onions and spinach.... that is a good start... I hope 14 inches is deep enough...

 

Top soil is rare to come by around here. The closest you get to it is stuff called the machair.. The sand on the beaches here is made from crushed shell and the land behind the beaches is called the machair. It is a mix of crushed shell and peat..
It is a lovely habitat and grows wild flowers and orchids on it... If any new houses are built in the right area I will try and get a lorry load of it dropped off....

 

Hi again purplemer.

When I said "buy in", I meant from the mainland. Since you don't say how big the raised bed is, I'm assuming it's not a large area.

Cheers...Freddy.

 

The fish stuff does smell but it rots the offal down and makes the nutrient available to the plants much quicker. There is more detail on how to make it in

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/general-gardening-discussion/31395-old-book.html

the above thread.
Sulphuric acid you can get from old batteries. I'm familiar with the composition of The Machair, facinating habitat. And with the crushed shell, a source of Lime.

Its all there if you know what you are looking for.

Now add a compost toilet and you will have the Best soil on the island

 

manures improve the soil structure considerably, and for some trivia about them (N-P-K values):

Cow Manure: 0.6 - 0.4 -0.5

Horse Manure: 0.7 - 0.3 - 0.6

Pig Manure: 0.8 - 0.7 - 0.5

Chicken Manure: 1.1 - 0.8 - 0.5

Sheep Manure: 0.7 - 0.3 - 0.9

Rabbit Manure: 2.4 - 1.4 - 0.6

compost (depends on what was used, but on average: 0.5 - 0.27 - 0.81

--------------

some others:

Bonemeal: 3.5 - 18 - 0

Hoof and horn: 12 - 0 - 0

Fish blood and bone: 6 - 6 - 6

Chicken Manure pellets: 4 -2.5 -2.3

 

Ok I have done it.. 5 sacks of peat dust... 15 sacks of sheep poop... 4 bags of shop compost... 4 bags of my homemade compost. 2 saks of shell sand from beech and 3 sacks of top soil. I have been mixing it all day and I now have my first 9 metres sq if vegetable garden..
I am not going to leave it sit for a week in the rain and see it it shrinks then I am going to plant my first vegetables.... I have 50 autumn onions and garlic......


thank you for your help peeps....

 

lookin at your stats it looks like my soil it going to be low in nitrogen.. I might pop to town and see if I can get something to top it up....
thank you...