An easy solution for better growing soil. Making your own biochar to improve your soil, garden, and production. Improving your garden soil couldn’t be easier.
If you have done much research on improving garden soil you may have come across biochar, and wondered what it is and how it can help your garden.
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What is biochar
Biochar is a soil amendment that dates back 2 millennia to the tribal people of the Amazon basin. This charcoal-like product is in fact very similar to charcoal has a unique structure that contains a very large surface area at a microscopic scale. This specific quality enhances the microorganisms that naturally occur in the soil and allowing for plants to much more efficiently use those nutrients, grow, and be very productive.
Biochar is made from burning and organic material like wood, twigs or other old dead plant matter and even manure in a low oxygen environment.
Soil benefits
If gardening, growing an orchard
Here are a few of those must have benefits:
- Improves soils water retention
- Increases soil microbial life over time
- Last for a very long time
- Works as a carbon sink for the environment
- reduces soil acidity
- Improves soil texture and porous spaces
So as you can see biochar is one amazing thing to add to your soil. However, let me just add this little side note. Biochar does not necessarily add nutrients to your soil (unless your biochar is made from something like manure). But what is does do is help the soil in so many other ways (as you can clearly see above)!
How to make your own biochar
Biochar can be made in a lot of different ways. keep in mind ancient Amazonian tribes have been doing this for millennia. So don’t believe the hype that makes you think it has to come from some expensive kiln or machine.
To make biochar your main tools are your biomass/organic materials (wood, twigs, manure etc) and fire.
When we first started using biochar it was in our greenhouse beds before we even had the greenhouse up. At those beginning days we used a biocharlie. This was a small canister made to fill with small pieces of wood and then placed inside a wood stove or fireplace to burn. We made several batches inside a wood-burning stove we have in our homestead shop building.
We soon realized this was not enough for the amount of ground we wanted to amend with biochar on our property. And since a 5-gallon bucket
Many of the ways people make biochar today:
- kiln or special stove
- biocharlie a fireplace/stove container
- backyard firepit
- dugout earth style pit
- ground pile
Easy soil improvement
If you are looking for organic, earth & budget-friendly ways to improve your soil, trust me biochar is it. We have been using biochar in our greenhouse soil for several years now, and it is always a productive garden bed.
Sure gardening can be expensive and disheartening if all your hard work doesn’t provide you with much to show for it. However improving the soil is always a great step. The best part is that improving that soil doesn’t have to be expensive at all. No way! You can easily make yourself biochar in an inground pit, pile or even a backyard fire pit. Improve all that soil, but don’t break the bank to do it ♡♡♡
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Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.