Decided to make some charcoal with half an oil drum I bought and transported locally. Going to make a tub of the stuff and use it to make some better soil for my garden. Its full of clay which sucks.
Fire was too close under fan blades and they got a little wobbly bendy on me. I accidentally touched the top of the metal with my wrist and got a little memento.
Well , OUCH!! I have about 40 hours worth of safety training videos I need to complete for work. I think you should do them for me not that they would help keep you from ever getting burned again, but atleast I wouldn't have to suffer through with them
Oh tell me about it I have approx 40 hrs of bs common sense modules to do online for the insurance company as well. Not looking forward to it. Modules are just ways to shirk responsibility to the little guy and protect themselves.
I'll trade ya!! I've hade the same stupid videos for the past 10 years, and I could use a bit more common sense at times....
You might try putting gypsum on your garden too. It really helps with clay. I just go by a building site and load up sheetrock being thrown out and lay it out in the garden over winter. Come spring it is soft and can be tilled into the soil.
And you don't have to mow that spot while the gypsum is laying on it But does it have any effect on the soils Ph?? I have heavy clay soil and had to put down 2" of sand and 3" of compost down prior to tilling it in. Worked out ok, but the compost had alot of weed seeds in it ( not the medicinal type)
Yeah I've heard of amending with calcium/gypsum since the calcium is positively charged and clay is negatively charged it tends to bind to it and break it up. I think my area is heavy in limestone so it already has a lot of calcium in it. I heard sand can cause issues as well just let's clay stick to it and turns into concrete. Apparently adding organic material i.e. compost/manure/mulch helps too. It lightens soil up and makes habitat for worms and other soil critters to turn over the soil. Apparently charcoal addition is the bees knees for soil amendments. You have to mix it with compost or manure to charge it up and let it absorb nutrients then add to garden and the tiny holes in the charcoal have tons of nutrients, let bacteria and fungi live inside them and protect them from being washed away in rain, charcoal is light and breaks up soil too and it takes approx 10,000 years to break down since it doesn't really rot. So its a permanent addition. Apparently as little as 3% charcoal to soil by volume is enough to substantially increase harvest. With benefits capping out around 30% charcoal. At least thats what the biochar nuts would have you read. We will see. Might take 2 years to fix my soil up since its a muddy mess at the moment. Getting close to the end of a charcoal cycle. Container is 75% full of charcoal. Probably about 100 gallons made so far. A bit more to go.
Well if your not in any hurry to plant anything, you could just dump a load of wood chips on it and let them break down...
Yeah makes sense. I do want to plant this spring tho. I'm using my next paycheck to get hinge started. I think I'll get a local guy to till the soil here to loosen it all up then buy a load or two of compost. Approx 6 yards per load. Not sure how many flower beds this will make. But I also want to sort out an area to mix manure or compost with the charcoal to start prepping it. Maybe I can add it later in the growing season. After the first load of compost has a chance to get going. The compost is 450 per 6 cubic yards. Not sure if this is a good or bad price but its cheaper than buying bags from lowes. Also a ton of mulch available in wood chip form locally.
You may want to give a call to your local county agriculture office. Around here it's known as Cooperative Extension. Their a great resource. They are likely familiar with the soil in your area and with the most helpful amendments, etc. My agent is a pretty helpful guy. Name's Hank Kimball. Kinda goofy. Dude that fan is too much!
Good tip. I know! The fan is like a wilted sad flower haha. I'm nearly done with the burn going to quench soon. Just waiting on the last couple bits on top to fully convert.
Filling it up with water but looks like it worked well. Got a full tub. Lotta charcoal now that I look at it. I may try add some acid to neutralize it a bit. It is pretty clean of ash though so its probably ok.
Compost costs me $30.00 a yard here and "super soil" is $35 a yard. But I'm sure it varies greatly depending on location. A raised bed garden would be the way to go if your going to plant this year...
I want to do raised bed but the cost of material to make it raised is crazy. Wood frames are super pricey, stone is pricey brick etc. May need to do in ground for first year then see about building up the patches in future years. I think the price is 450 because the closest place for compost is 1 hr away from me. So they charge for driving it over here in their gas guzzling giant truck.
You can make raised beds with no frames. Just mound the amended soil up and garden there, leaving walking space between.
