steaming pile of sh*t

I have a big, steaming pile of sh*t in my driveway.

I ordered it to fill in the garden bed out the back.  The company I ordered it from had a special "5-way mix" of sandy soil, clay soil, horse poo, cow poo and mushroom compost.  And when the guy dumped it in the driveway this morning the poo was still steaming.  And smelled like poo.

So now begins the long process of taking it round the back by the bucketful as I don't have a wheelbarrow.  And there's an added complication.  It's really lovely soil, rich and free-draining ... but it's incredibly alkaline.  A neutral soil has a pH of 7; acidic soils go down to around 4; this soil is 9.  I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure that's a bit too high.

I'm not sure how I'm going to neutralize it, it's a lot easier to make soil more alkaline (add garden lime) and a lot harder to make it acidic.  I've added a few buckets of my home-made compost which is very acidic, but four buckets out of 1/2 cubic metre ain't much.  I think I'll try to pillage some free coffee grounds this afternoon, they're also extremely acidic.

Ug.  I suppose I should get back to shoveling now.