21 & 22 March 2026
Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire
With the Earthed Up! team and Matt Ralston
The whats, the whys, the hows. We love biochar and want to share it with you.
Course outline
Day 1
10am-2pm
- What is biochar? A short introduction. The basics and a little bit of history.
- Uses: including in a potting mix for seedlings and container plants.
- Cone pits: doing a burn.
- Shared lunch.
Day 2
10am-2pm
- Inoculating charcoal
- Biochar kilns: doing a burn
- Shared lunch.
Why we’re focusing on biochar
Biochar can be incorporated into borders, potting mediums or planting hole infills, ideally in spring. The biochar could be held in the soil for hundreds of years.
Biochar is biologically inoculated charcoal. We pyrolise seasoned brash and prunings. We then add natural plant feed and ferment for at least a week.
Biochar is good to add to your potting mix or garden beds. We use it! In trials, we saw a 50% increase in seedling size versus potting compost without biochar. Biochar can help to retain moisture and nutrients. It’s known to persist in the soil for hundreds of years.
We add biochar into our potting mix and found that 20-40% shows great results on the health of the plants.
Available from us loose at the nursery or by the litre online. Our biochar is made by use from locally sourced brash and prunings – it is inoculated with nettle & comfrey tea.
About the educators
Ryan Sandford-Blackburn is a grower at Earthed Up! Biochar forms a vital component of our potting mix. Ryan has been making biochar himself for the past decade, using it in chicken bedding, to grow perennials on an allotment, and in thousands of potted plants sold in the nursery.
Matt Ralston loves rocket stoves, making biochar, tools and all that kind of stuff. Matt uses permaculture to grow edible landscapes and create bespoke tools, in Mansfield. We first attended a workshop with Matt on making biochar in 2016 at a national permaculture convergence. He supplied our biochar kiln and his calendar is usually booked up across the summer running demonstrations. We’re glad Matt can join us this weekend to share his experience of making and growing with biochar.
The venue
Our venue is an off grid site in Middleton-by-Wirksworth, in the vicinity of the Derbyshire Eco Centre, DE4 4LS. We will provide the address the week before.
The venue has space for car parking, secure bicycle parking, and is a short walk from a bus stop served by the 6.1. It is possible to get the train to Cromford then a bus up Cromford hill to National Stone Centre.
Book your place
This course is priced on a sliding scale – please pay the price that feels fair to you. You will take away at least a litre of biochar along with and new knowledge, ideas, and contacts.
The cost for the full course over 2 days is £60 – £120
We don’t want the cost to be an obstacle to your participation – please contact us if you need a bursary place or if you have any questions.
Earthed Up! 