I sent off a soil sample at the beginning of May; a little zip-lock bag with 20 or so samples taken from all over the land. 10 days later ProGreen sent back the soil analysis.
It turns out the soil is very acidic, poor with little nutrients, "great!" you think, but what does that mean, there's plenty of stuff growing there.
Acidic soil allows valuable nutrience to leach out of the soil. To improve the soil for grazing the ph needs to be raised by adding an alkali such as Lime to re balance it. The Calcium is also very low so that will need to be added to provide the correct nutrience for grazing animals for healthy bones. Both these issues can be sorted by easily adding Calcium Limestone. Once the ph has been raised the soil will be more likely to "grab" onto any fertilizer we add so this has to be done in stages over time and is not a quick fix like adding "MiricalGro" to your tomatoes!
The report detailed brands of fertilizer and quantities however; this would boost the soil and grazing to produce lush rich grass, perhaps not the best for greedy horses that could eat themselves into bad health. The other worrying element is the long term change that we could inflict on the soil and the plants and wild life that depend on them, can we have both?
Nature vs Nurture.....hmmm
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