I've just come across a fantastic blog post about Terra Pretta Soil created by the Amazonians through their agricultural processes an thought it might interest a few readers.
To say these farmers were ahead of their time in land management is probably an understatement.
I would love to know peoples views if this could be replicated in our own back yard?

I've posted the link below if anyone would like an interesting read.
terrafirmagroundcare.co.uk/blog-1-1/terra-preta-worlds-most-fertile-soil

We were discussing this this spring:

The thread "Composting for beginners." in Ask a Question forum

to the site

Can this be replicated in my backyard?
The article says terra preta was created over hundreds or a thousand years, so, I'm afraid not. That's hundreds of growing cycles and burning etc.

Some of us here are avid, but at the same time maybe casual, compost makers (see the link from stone) and that's where I am. = Keeping all one's organic material onsite and making it part of a cycle ending in soil organic content and this may include wood ash and charcoal if available.
Weigh the effort you put into any process versus the actual difference it will make- bear in mind none of us here live on natural Amazon rainforest land, so we don't have the same conditions that help year round decay- which on one hand keeps 'composting' going and on the other hand is why the Amazon soil becomes infertile quickly. Warmth and rain keep all the plants growing, sucking up nutrients, and washing away a lot of stuff.

I don't know this site but there's a lot of info here about soil and fertility
https://bettermeetsreality.com...

I'm sure similarly fertile soil can be found anywhere where organic matter has been deposited repeatedly over a significant period of time but is anybody studying that? Are there any archaeologists poking around great-great-grandpa's compost site in NJ, or VA?

IME with making an effort to improve the soil, results can be observed as soon as the next year. As long as enough organic matter and moisture are present for the final stage of decomposition to be actively occurring, I don't think it matters much what the organic matter was originally. It's the poo of the worms, microbes, and other animals that participate in the decomposition process, that is the final form of organic matter that benefits plants. Micro poo.

Hi Folks,
I was listening to a science discussion on the radio earlier this summer. It was very interesting. Unfortunately I can't remember who the scientists were or where the area was that they were exploring so I cannot offer this to you as scientific evidence. This is just for the giggles.

I think the area they were in was in Africa or Eurasia. There is a pretty large area where the ground contained lots of biochar and is extremely fertile. Their research showed the same kind of thing... that there were many, many layers from hundreds or thousand of years.
When they carbon dated the layers they discovered that this had started back during the very early days of humans. You know, like when our ancestors first became homo-erectus.

They just could not believe that these early humans could possibly have been smart enough to know that what they were doing would greatly improve the soil and ability to grow things. These early people were foragers, not farmers.

After several years they published their hypothesis...... not fact, just an hypothesis...
That these early peoples had learned to make fire!
It just took them awhile to learn to always put it out!
Smokey the bear wasn't invented yet!

haha!
Fire is a great tool and destructive force. The layers of biochar could have been a side effect of other activities, I think is what that says.

It has been a few years since anybody cleaned the leaves off of a sidewalk in my mom's back yard. I was tackling this job yesterday and as I suspected, there was a thick layer of "black gold" under there.

At the top is what the undisturbed part looks like. At the bottom is where I had raked off the leaves.




Here is what tree roots think about it.


There really is a concrete walkway under there! I tried to rinse it after raking but the walk is now lower than the surrounding ground so it wouldn't rinse away.

Magnolia leaves are tough but they do decompose into beautiful black soil if given time.

Practical? No....

There are loads of ways to improve soil fertility and general health through a myriad of different means (some for the energetic, some for the lazy ones among us), but they have one thing in common: adding organic matter.

Agree that purposely piling leaves on a sidewalk is impractical. The sidewalk is incidental to the situation. The ground on both sides of the sidewalk is also covered with the same leaves and the same "black gold" under them. Also agree, the addition of organic matter is the key.

Charcoal, smashed pottery, and organic material? Sounds like they've discovered an ancient dump.

You may want to do a bit of reading on the concept...
Basically the same as the midden heap...
but... maybe a bit more effort was put into the ones in the amazon.

Rubi said: Charcoal, smashed pottery, and organic material? Sounds like they've discovered an ancient dump.

Well, our ancient dumps did not include plastic and other non-biodegradable items, so I guess you are correct.