Each spring gardeners prep their soil for the growing season ahead with mulch, compost or manure. But what if you could add something to your soil just once and it could rejuvenate your garden for years and years to come? Such a thing exists. It’s the special charcoal known as ‘biochar’.

At Sacred Earth we make our own biochar and add our unique recipe of other soil-boosting ingredients- comfrey tea, seaweed and biodynamic compost preparations – to create the ultimate soil amendment. Perfect for your garden or allotment, Sacred Earth’s Biochar Soil Booster revives soil at a microbial level, thereby enhancing soil fertility – and so boosting plant health and crop yields.   You only need to dig it into your soil once to enjoy its amazing long-term benefits for decades.

How does biochar help soil?

The structure of biochar makes it the perfect home for the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and friendly bacteria that are essential to healthy soil. Made by burning sustainable plant and wood waste at low temperatures in the absence of oxygen, biochar is more porous and absorbent than common charcoal. Its surface is pitted with miniscule nooks and crannies, in which beneficial micro-organisms and fungi can flourish. When a healthy microbial ecosystem is established, a plant’s root mass will become larger and, in turn, allows plants to take up more water and nutrients.

How is this product made?

This super strong soil amendment is an artisan product. We make it by hand in small batches in our Sussex woodland, using the highest eco-friendly standards. We manage the woodlands that cover much of our beautiful 40-acre site using the age-old pruning techniques of coppicing and pollarding – which are environmentally regenerative, rather than just sustainable, because they boost further tree growth. The wood offcuts are baked at low temperatures in our on-site kiln to make biochar. It is then ground by hand and blended with our carefully selected recipe of other soil improvers.

How do you use it?

Sacred Earth’s Biochar Soil Booster only needs to be dug into soil once. You have two options. You can dig it into the soil directly, or you can mix it with compost first and then dig it in. If you do the former, there is no set square meterage of soil to which to add biochar. Even tiny amounts can bring about results. However, we’d suggest approximately 1kg per square metre, if your soil isn’t good and a little less if it’s not too bad. If you want to add it to established plants, we’d suggest incorporating a good few handfuls around their roots. You’ll need at least 1kg for a small tree.  If you decide to add it to compost first, we would recommend one part Biochar Soil Booster to nine parts compost.

When do you use it?

Sacred Earth’s Biochar Soil Booster can be used all year round.  It can be used in spring, but another good time to think about improving the structure and general health of your soil is in the autumn- winter season, when the growing season has finished. Soils rest during this period, making it an excellent time to add amendments designed to rejuvenate it. The key is patience. Rejuvenating the complex ecosystem of your soil at microbial level takes time. It’s a long-term game. You might not see the benefits the first season, but you will reap the rewards for years to come. It will greatly improve soil health over the long-term. Try some today. You can purchase it here.