Let the Experiment Begin!

I'm not sure if it was elementary science fairs or just my incredible curiosity but I love experiments. Kind of weird, I know but also super fun! 

We have been planning our out of state move for years - 4 years! In fact our first scouting trip was 2 kids ago ... unless you count our first trip which was pre kids. One of the things holding me back the most was the growing zone. We are a 6 here and were a 9 where we moved from - 3 zones difference is huge! Plus we were moving from great soil to sand! Would we be able to garden here? I began to read every book I could find on improving soil and every pin I could find too. Something that came up over and over was biochar. It fascinated me, but also seemed like some hippy nonsense. In all my searching I found one person who did a cool experiment but there was no update posted.  So, I decided to try my own! 

We have garden boxes in the backyard that are about 2 by 7 and the soil is super sandy. Oddly enough our soil varies widely from clay to silt to sand all over our yard, but the garden boxes are all very sandy.  

Last fall we mowed up the leaves and piled them up in all the garden boxes and the flower beds. Great and free way to incorporate organic matter. We had a good 4-6" of chopped up leaves covering everything. We also added 2 bags of manure and a bag of compost that we got on super clearance from Walmart (75 cents and 25 cents - couldn't pass that up!).  There was an odd lack of earthworms when we started looking at the soil after we moved and after the winter with the little bit of manure, compost, and lots of leaves the worms are impressive! Already our soil is improving! 

This Spring I ordered biochar from Amazon and got "Cowboy Charcoal" - Royal Oak brand to test out the difference and to see if either one makes a difference from all the other stuff we are doing to the beds to improve the soil.  

 

 

The biochar was an amazing consistency and was almost dust free! Cowboy charcoal had to be crushed which was a pain, but it was HALF the cost - much more manageable of an investment.  

If what I have read is correct, then this amendment will last for a long long time so the investment will be worth it!  

Biochar is also know as terra preta and was first found when researching how the poor soils of the Amazon could support such a large population. They used charcoal from their fires along with waste (kitchen scraps and human waste) to feed their soil. The difference between other ancient populations is that the Amazon soil is still super fertile. Still, which means this soil improvement lasts a very very long time. 

I added each to a (separate) bin with a bag of steer manure and filled with water. This is to charge it so it doesn't take nutrients from the soil. The idea is that biochar can hold onto water and nutrients better than the soil can and it releases it when the plants need it. So, it is especially good for sandy soil which lets water and nutrients flow right through. 

 

After a month of letting them sit, I added the mixture from each bin to a separate garden box and used a garden fork to turn the soil. It was about 2" on top of each bed and I mixed it as deep and evenly as I could.  After it was mixed in I added compost to fill the bed - it was about 4-5" of compost, which I waited to mix into the soil until right before planting. 

About a month later it was time to plant! In our area the average last frost date in MAY 15th.  I tried to plant the beds similarly so I could eliminate as many differences as possible and focus on just the biochar and cowboy charcoal. 

I'm so excited - will they make a difference?