The 12-Bed Amendment Experiment: Taste-Test Results!

To end the 12-bed amendment experiment, we conducted a taste-test of the turnips and radishes:

The radish variety was Red King, the turnip variety was White Lady. Both are hybrid varieties.

We grew these roots in 12 beds, of which only 6 gave us good yields, those being the alfalfa, charged biochar, Solomon’s gold, lasagna garden, worm castings and 10-10-10 beds. Five of the other 12 beds were fed with liquid feeds which were not enough to provide good yields; the final bed was sown with solely a cover crop.

Flavor Notes on Radishes:

Worm Castings: Sweet, pleasant, very nice

Lasagna Garden: Harder, less crisp, more bite – more flavor than worm castings radish

Alfalfa: Crisp, mild flavor less than lasagna, more so than worm castings, pleasant radish

Charged Biochar: Very good flavor and texture, sweetest, a little burn, juicy

10-10-10: Earthy, woody edges, most spicy of all, a bit bitter

Solomon’s Gold: Mild, complex, more burn than biochar, not as sweet as biochar

Radishes Ranked by Overall Flavor:

1. Charged Biochar

2. Solomon’s Gold

3. Alfalfa

4. Worm Castings

5. Lasagna Garden

6. 10-10-10

Flavor Notes on Turnips

Worm Castings: Mild, sweet, bland

Lasagna Garden: Juicy, sweet, mild

Alfalfa: Great texture, juicy, very mild, buttery

Biochar: Denser texture, more crunch, earthier, sweet

10-10-10: Rubbery, poor flavor, somewhat bitter, “like what you think of when you think of turnips”

Solomon’s Gold: Great texture, more crunch, very juicy, sulfury zip, more complex flavor

Turnips Ranked by Overall Flavor:

1. Alfalfa/Solomon’s Gold

2. Biochar

3. Worm castings

4. Lasagna Garden

5. 10-10-10

Conclusions

With these results in mind, I am building a bed fed with layers of manure and alfalfa, as well as charged biochar and an application of Solomon’s Gold. I will post a video on its construction soon.