BIO-CHAR and reclamation of toxic mine tailings

Here is link to a story about how the area around toxic mine tailings is being reclaimed. An example of the sensible use of bio-char. It is well worth a read- --- 

http://coyotegulch.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/restoration-hope-mine-biochar-application-has-yielded-surprising-results/#comment-6167

Ken Bourne

Strawberries, not a big crop but lots of runners.

This is a new planting of strawberries that I did not allow to crop to its full potential.I let the plants produce lots of runners and either rooted them in the bed or into small pots for next year's crop. out of this small bed I got 86 new plants from only 12 originals.

Fresh peas and even some to freeze!

All of our family love fresh peas so with this exceptional crop this year we are having regular visits from the kids. I am going to grow twice as many next year!

Carrots -thinned once- and need thinning again

This bed of carrots measures 2 feet by 10 feet and should give me a harvest of over 600 1 inch diameter even after all the thinning. the bed did not have a lot of horse manure just the sandy loam with some bio-char and rock dust and worm compost tea. I will try some bigger ones next year in a 40 gallon barrel with 3foot holes for each carrot. Used to do this in England for fun and won lots of competitions!