I spent the day at RHS Chelsea wandering round, taking photos and generally looking for ideas to take away, of which there were plenty. And one garden featured an innovative toilet.... read on ...
There are quite a few designs to try, if you search for, ‘paint can biochar kiln’, several come up. I tried this one and it actually works pretty well, all be it on a tiny scale.
I loved all those things too Sally! But of course I did. I was lucky enough to be gifted a ticket by a company I work with. Thankful for these gardens above and the composting loo to temper the vulgarness of the show. Also found some nurseries that I Had't come across before. I've been putting bio char in my compost heaps (after activating with some of my weed water!) and I am certain plants are healthier and more resilient when sown or potted on in it.
Great to find new nurseries ... so useful. Biochar - its one of those products where you don't see an instant improvement but, like you, I think its healthier, more resilient plants.
Thank you for this post, lots of inspiration. I live in Sydney, Australia and am part of a permaculture Food Forest in our local park. We grow a lot of pigeon pea , primarily for nitrogen fixing but we have had very good crops some years. It’s been variable. W w also have a lot of sweet potato in the forest now. Rats tend to get the sweet potato but the leaves are nutritious and great for stir fries, they are very highly valued in Traditional Chinese medicine, supporting bowel health. After reading this post would like to try chickpeas here, although Sydney has become very wet in last few summers
Thanks Sally - didn't know you could eat the leaves of sweet potato. If you are getting more summer rain you could try soybeans - they like more water than chickpea
I've always found it hard to relate to Chelsea, so I really appreciate you picking out some things I find interesting and that I do relate to! Thank you.
I'm drawn to and fascinated by biochar but, when I've tried it, I've struggled to notice much difference in container gardening. And, if you don't have a local source, it is hard to buy at what seems like a reasonable cost. (Not sure how easy and practical it is to make your own on a small scale?).
My hunch though is that biochar could be a fantastic amendment for helping to sustain and re-use compost for many years, perhaps indefinitely. I don't suppose you've come across any studies about using biochar this way - or elsewhere in container gardening? Or maybe someone might be interested in doing a proper trial like this? Peat free compost is a great step forward but I guess that moving it around etc still has quite a large footprint so the less we can use the better.
I have been using biochar from various sources for around 12 years and have been following the research. I think it is difficult to see any difference as biochar doesn't add nutrients, or at least not much, but helps the soil hold on to them, it acts to retain water, also helps drainage and hosts microbes, as well as lock up carbon - so it contributes to a healthier soil and I think that leads to more climate resilient plants. Orchard trials have found that adding biochar to the planting hole of new apple trees reduced losses considerably. About 12 years ago the SA did a trial with propagating compost - a grower added biochar to half the composts and the result was much better root structure and interestingly, the grower found the seedlings in the biochar modules easier to remove as the roots hadn't grown through the bottom of the module.
You can buy activated biochar from Carbon Gold - its biochar thats been put in compost to 'collect' beneficial microbes - so you could do the same. And I am going to try the suggestion from Virens Studio in comments about making a paint can biochar kiln so I can make my own . There is a smallish kiln on sale but its £300 so cant afford that option.
And if you fancy trawling through some research papers, there is plenty on offer at the biochar research centre https://www.biochar.ac.uk
Great take aways, thanks for sharing with those of us that are a bit too far away to attend.
Loving the biochar as well (I just made a small kiln out of a paint can).
It was great to read about biochar on two gardens. Love the idea of a small biochar kiln - can you elaborate ?
There are quite a few designs to try, if you search for, ‘paint can biochar kiln’, several come up. I tried this one and it actually works pretty well, all be it on a tiny scale.
https://makezine.com/projects/wood-gas-camp-stove/
Thanks - thats great - will give it a go
I loved all those things too Sally! But of course I did. I was lucky enough to be gifted a ticket by a company I work with. Thankful for these gardens above and the composting loo to temper the vulgarness of the show. Also found some nurseries that I Had't come across before. I've been putting bio char in my compost heaps (after activating with some of my weed water!) and I am certain plants are healthier and more resilient when sown or potted on in it.
Great to find new nurseries ... so useful. Biochar - its one of those products where you don't see an instant improvement but, like you, I think its healthier, more resilient plants.
Thank you for this post, lots of inspiration. I live in Sydney, Australia and am part of a permaculture Food Forest in our local park. We grow a lot of pigeon pea , primarily for nitrogen fixing but we have had very good crops some years. It’s been variable. W w also have a lot of sweet potato in the forest now. Rats tend to get the sweet potato but the leaves are nutritious and great for stir fries, they are very highly valued in Traditional Chinese medicine, supporting bowel health. After reading this post would like to try chickpeas here, although Sydney has become very wet in last few summers
Thanks Sally - didn't know you could eat the leaves of sweet potato. If you are getting more summer rain you could try soybeans - they like more water than chickpea
Thanks for this suggestion Sally
I've always found it hard to relate to Chelsea, so I really appreciate you picking out some things I find interesting and that I do relate to! Thank you.
I'm drawn to and fascinated by biochar but, when I've tried it, I've struggled to notice much difference in container gardening. And, if you don't have a local source, it is hard to buy at what seems like a reasonable cost. (Not sure how easy and practical it is to make your own on a small scale?).
My hunch though is that biochar could be a fantastic amendment for helping to sustain and re-use compost for many years, perhaps indefinitely. I don't suppose you've come across any studies about using biochar this way - or elsewhere in container gardening? Or maybe someone might be interested in doing a proper trial like this? Peat free compost is a great step forward but I guess that moving it around etc still has quite a large footprint so the less we can use the better.
I have been using biochar from various sources for around 12 years and have been following the research. I think it is difficult to see any difference as biochar doesn't add nutrients, or at least not much, but helps the soil hold on to them, it acts to retain water, also helps drainage and hosts microbes, as well as lock up carbon - so it contributes to a healthier soil and I think that leads to more climate resilient plants. Orchard trials have found that adding biochar to the planting hole of new apple trees reduced losses considerably. About 12 years ago the SA did a trial with propagating compost - a grower added biochar to half the composts and the result was much better root structure and interestingly, the grower found the seedlings in the biochar modules easier to remove as the roots hadn't grown through the bottom of the module.
You can buy activated biochar from Carbon Gold - its biochar thats been put in compost to 'collect' beneficial microbes - so you could do the same. And I am going to try the suggestion from Virens Studio in comments about making a paint can biochar kiln so I can make my own . There is a smallish kiln on sale but its £300 so cant afford that option.
And if you fancy trawling through some research papers, there is plenty on offer at the biochar research centre https://www.biochar.ac.uk