Bob Flowerdew tries biochar!

“When I heard that a type of charred-earth type product was being sold, I wanted to trial it. I anticipated something like a mixture of soil and coffee grounds, but what arrived was more like plum pudding. A lump of claggy manure, spotted with chunks of blocky charcoal!

So when a salesman for the stuff at a show started trying to win me over, he got the full scathing Flowerdew diatribe as to his rubbish product. Unfortunately I had to go back the next day and apologise to the team at Carbon Gold – the trialled product was actually from a different company!

On closer inspection of Carbon Gold’s products, and then a trial, theirs was indeed a much better product to use. I felt it was a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

And it does work. In my trial their seed compost proved the best. Indeed, I found that just adding a percentage of it to others dramatically improved germination time and the appearance of seedlings. It just goes to show that you need to be careful over what you choose (and remember which you used!) and to try things out for yourself.”

Originally featured in The Organic Gardener – by Bob Flowerdew (Amateur Gardening, 27 July 2013)