This year we made 132 square feet of raised beds 6 inches deep. It was about 1/2 top soil (pH 6.5) and 1/2 other stuff: 50 lbs charcoal (80% Cowboy Brand, 20% I made from maple branches and woodworking scraps), 50 lbs peat (pH 5.0), 50 lbs chicken manure, and 250 lbs well composted maple leaves and kitchen scraps. I am not double counting the 1/3 of the charcoal that went through the compost and the compost was up at pH 8.0 as a result. The not-composted portion of the charcoal itself was soaked in fish emulsion and was up at pH 8.5, the maximum my
Hellige Soil Reaction kit will read to, so it could have been higher, and probably was considering my results.
added 10/24/08: See "lab results are in", below, for correct soil pH.
It was cold this year and everything started out very slow and looked a little chlorotic. My wife and I didn't coordinate very well and we doubled up on our response resulting in over-fertilizing 2X with MiracleGro (TM): We got HUGE squash and melon vine production as a result.
The soil pH starting out indecipherable with the kit, with bits of peat at 5.5 and bits of charcoal at 8.5. Five months later it has evened out, but it is surprisingly high considering the amount of peat that went in. It is up at 8.0, and I want it back down at 6.5 like I had it before I started. I'll back off on the charcoal for next year until I can coax the soil down below 7.0
using elemental sulfer. Plus maybe the rain and snow melt this winter will wash some of the reactive compounds a little deeper.
I have had pH 8.0 garden soil before and the garden never looked this good. I am quite pleased and expect increasingly good production from this 132 SF.
