What happened at SoilFixer HQ over the long hot summer?

08.11.18 Tony Callaghan

After relocating, we temporarily lost our test beds. However, we can report on a few things we grew at our new house.   We brought with us two 50-litre outdoor container planters. They used to sit by the front door and held lovely sweat peas. We planted up (using the three-year old SF60...

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Your Autumn garden tidy-up

05.10.18 Tony Callaghan

Last year, in our Autumn composting blog, we focused on the steps you could take to ensure your compost heap keeps decomposing over the winter by converting your bin from a “cold” system into a hot composting system. If you’re unsure about going down this DIY route to convert your existing bin, w...

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What’s happening in the biochar industry? And how does it affect SoilFixer?

05.10.18 Tony Callaghan

We can trace charcoal use in soil agriculture back a thousand years. However, the modern biochar industry is still new at the grand age of around five years old!  We thought it useful to give a perspective of how we see things progressing here in the UK.  Overall, UK adoption of biochar...

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Encouraging wildlife in your garden

04.10.18 Tony Callaghan

You’ve probably heard that there’s a big push to halt the drastic decline in British wildlife. The recent launch of the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife lays out the practical steps we can all take to help halt destruction of species and habitats in Britain.  You can read more and download th...

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Organic products

24.07.18 Tony Callaghan

We often get asked if SoilFixer products are organic.   We have answered this question before in our blog about sustainable production.  Recently our friends at Garden Organic blogged about the new EU legislation covering organic production and labelling (EU 2018/848). We though...

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Biochar for golf greens and lawns

23.05.18 0 Comments Tony Callaghan

We have used SF60 super compost (a mix of activated biochar and humus) on our domestic lawn for a couple of years and have found it helps deepen the green colour, and it also seems to help prevent moss on our heavy clay lawn. It also helps with recovery of brown patches caused by pet poo/urine and o...

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Biochar for trees

23.05.18 0 Comments Tony Callaghan

Following increased enquiries from landscaping contractors regarding biochar for trees, we thought a quick update was in order! Main areas of interest •    Adding biochar to the root zone of older trees to revitalise growth and reduce stress. •    Adding bio...

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Composting grass to make super compost

23.05.18 0 Comments Tony Callaghan

Composting grass to make super compost requires a little bit of knowledge.   On one hand, grass is one of the easiest and fastest materials to compost and is often added to help increase the heap temperature, and often can be composted in just seven to 10 days! On the other hand, g...

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Activated carbon for aquariums - tried & tested – crystal clear!

23.05.18 0 Comments Tony Callaghan

In our blog exploring the types of activated carbon used in aquarium fish tanks, we suggested that types of wood-based charcoal (biochar) should outperform activated carbon pellets to clarify and remove water discoloration in aquariums.  We have done some testing using reference dye mol...

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Biochar - what is it and how to use it

10.04.18 0 Comments Tony Callaghan

What is biochar and how is it made? Biochar is a form of charcoal used to improve compost and top soil. It is created by heating wood in the absence of oxygen - the process is called ‘pyrolysis’. (This differs to a normal biomass boiler that ‘combusts wood’ – ie burns the wood with oxygen). ...

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