Spring clean

Once a year, about now, I tidy up the garden shed, or at least the parts that I can reach. Sometimes I find a bird's nest, once a hedgehog. Nothing of that sort today.

Long ago this tiny stone building was the ty bach  (little house) such as every country home once   had at the bottom of the garden, a decent way away from the dwelling beyond eyesight and nosesniff.

This leads me to wonder whether the nightsoil that accumulated here would have been used to boost the fertility of the garden. I do use horse, chicken and rabbit poo when I can get it but some would say that we shouldn't waste our own and that, properly composted, it's a valuable resource. 

Researching this I found a fascinating Garden History Blog on the historical uses of nightsoil as fertilizer. It's quite long so I'll just quote one recommendation from the 17th century.

Leonard Meager in The Mystery of Husbandry (1697), has a chapter on The Dunging of Ground which starts with asking “what Dung doth most enrich the Earth?” The answer is that  “The most Expert of the Ancient Husbandmen, appoint three sorts of Dungs: the first of Poultry, the next of Men, the third of Cattel. Of the first sort, the best is had out of Dove-Houses; the next is of Pulline, and other Fowl, except Geese and Ducks, which is hurtful… The next to this, is Man’s Ordure, if it be mixt with other Rubbish of the House: for of itself it is too hot, and burns the Ground. Man’s Urine, being kept six Months, and poured upon the Roots of Apple-trees, and Vines, causeth them to be very fruitful, and giveth a pleasant Taste to the Fruit. In the third place, is the Dung of Cattel.”