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I made terra preta ! ... and its growing ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta About 2 years ago I dug two long pits about knee depth on the east side of the veggie garden, I broke uo the clods and back filled with the soil, charcoal , organic material, and some half decayed cow horn interiors . ( these have to be removed from the outer horn casing to be able to use the horn as a hollow container. When I worked for BD Aust. they used lots of horns and had these spongy looking bone horn interiors as an ever increasing unwanted by product .... so I scored them - I have them buried in a trench on the uphill garden border ... as a counter measure against the increasing soil acidity and lack of calcium here.) Then I poured on fish and seaweed emulsion and filled in the rest of the hole on top with 'normal' soil. I have spent the last 2 days digging in that spot and making some new spring veggie beds. I had actually forgot the exact location, anyway, I am digging in with the garden fork, suddenly the fork goes in this patch, all the way up to the handle, I nearly face plated in the dirt. Its lite, fluffy, granular, very black, looks dry and glistening but when you squeeze it moisture comes out. At the bottom of the pit its starting to transform the clay subsoil which looks like half clay, half charcoal/black earth. I seeded one bed with carrots, the other is still waiting for .... ? Be interesting to see what happens. I will also do some potting experiments and grow a variety of things. And leave some in a container with normal soil and see if the whole lot converts.