B(ash)fully Unaware

I fall badly the first weekend of the year , and was place for a few days . I make up one’s mind to let the fire burn down in our ever - lit hearth so I could clean out the accumulated ash . plod back in from a brambly bit of wood where I pitch the stuff so one ca n’t see it from the star sign or garden , I wonder if I had just waste a valuable dirt amendment . Do n’t people spread ash all over their garden , I wondered , as some sorting of nutritional plant supplement ? I seemed to remember accounts galore support the practice .

Instead of spending the twenty-four hours burning log and then overspread their remains , I made the reasonable decision to require our contributing editor in chief Linda Chalker - Scott about ashes in the garden . Here ’s her sobering explanation , for all you other eager beavers with a fireplace :

There ’s a bunch of research looking at ash tree as part of a compost pile or soil amendment . It ’s fairly alkaline , so you have to be careful about using very much of it instantly on land . Ash is quite variable depending on what the parent material was , how hot it was burned , and for how long . Thus , there are n’t any really good guideline except to be restrained . I would use a convention of thumb of no more than 20 % ash tree by intensity in your compost pile , and I would probably not use it now on top of land . You could , however , put it on top of a wood cow dung mulch , as the acidity of that mulch would help knock off the ash alkalinity .

There you have it !

Fine Gardening urge product

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine Gardening invite a commission for items buy through links on this site , let in Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs .

Get our late point , how - to articles , and instructional TV sent to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Pest Control for the Midwest: Emerald Ash Borer

Emerald Ash Borer Damage and Prevention

Ashes to Ashes…

Chat with a Pest Control Expert!

Join Fine Gardening for a free hire hot webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a famed plant life pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals proficient manager …

When I spotted a particular sand buck cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I roll in the hay I was in trouble . With a delightful colouring material pattern …

When we only prioritize plant life we require over plants our landscape pauperism , each season is filled with a never - ending list of job : pruning , purloin , watering , treating , amend , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trigger off on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a twain …