English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

I keep a burn pit for weeds tumble weeds and brush that gets over grown on my property. my mother told me to mix the ash from my burn pit with the soil for my garden, saying it'll make the plants healthy. i admit, i've never grown a garden on my own before.
but i thought the ash would kill anything that tried to grow there.. any insights?

2007-03-15 13:49:30 · 11 answers · asked by Kitterkat 5 in Home & Garden Garden & Landscape

11 answers

The only real good thing about putting ashes in the garden is it adds Potassium. Nothing else is very helpful to your garden. Ash is alkaline, thus, it will change the PH of your garden. Some plants, like Asparagus can tolerate high alkaline soils, thus, ash would be find for them. Other plants, like tomatoes, do not like alkaline. So it depends on the PH of your soil and how tolerant your plants are to alkaline. A little ash would not hurt.
My recommendation is to not put ash in and throw chopped up banana peels in the soil weeks before you plant. If you aren't going to use fertilizer to get the potassium, plants high in potassium like bananas will do the trick.

2007-03-15 17:23:50 · answer #1 · answered by AT 5 · 1 0

I'm sure that your weed and grass ashes are OK, but not all ashes are beneficial to a garden, particularly a vegetable garden. Don't put BBQ charcoal ashes in the garden soil or close to vegetables as there are toxic residual chemicals that can leach into the soil and kill or damage plants. Wood ashes from a fireplace are not good, either. However, these ashes are great for creating a barrier around the garden to keep certain pests from crossing into the garden - especially snails and slugs. Earthworms, however, will be killed by the lye, so try and keep the ashes from getting soaked into the soil.

Better than ashes is compost. If I were you, I'd let the grass, weeds, and other organic matter break down in your "burn pit" without lighting them off. One year, I buried a huge pile of leaves and very small branches near my garden and when I turned the soil a year later, it was full of earthworms and was a deep, rich brownish-black.

2007-03-15 15:37:03 · answer #2 · answered by SafetyDancer 5 · 1 0

Your mother is right. My mother used to do it too and all her plants were healthy. Ashes have a components that are beneficial to plants. I read it in a garden book last time but I totally forgot what it was. But I know it's good.

If it's a solid ash without any other mixture it might kill the plants. Since you're mixing it with your garden soil it should be okay. I can assure you, I've been doing it myself. Instead of throwing away the ashes from my fire pit I've been putting it in my garden and all my plants are in superb growth. Good luck and have fun gardening.

2007-03-15 14:13:13 · answer #3 · answered by egan 5 · 1 0

Ashes were once placed in barrels and had water poured through them to capture lye at the bottom of the barrel. the lye was then added to lard to make lye soap. So ashes can be very toxic. You can use them in the garden but do it sparingly. It would be better to apply the ashes in the fall rather than spring. This goes for manure as well. If you use either of these in the spring you could be taking a chance of getting some toxins in your vegetables. Use the ashes on your lawn and water them in if you want to use it now. Good luck.

2007-03-15 16:52:47 · answer #4 · answered by g henry 4 · 0 1

After a prairie burns, new life always springs even better from the ashed, on the side of a mountain after a volcano erupts life is only weeks away from sprouting.
In my yard I put all the ashed from my wood stove around my Lilacs. My Grandmother did it in her veggie garden and my mom did it to her flower beds too. No complaints from our gardens in three generations!

2007-03-15 14:42:12 · answer #5 · answered by bugsie 7 · 0 0

we are commencing at 9am with myself, 7 bridesmaids and 2 moms. we've 2 human beings doing hair and one doing makeup. The ceremony would not start up until eventually 5:30 yet we should be at our area by ability of two:30 for %.. i'd ask the man doing all of your updos what they imagine a sturdy commencing time will be because they are going to likely have a sturdy idea of ways lengthy the hair and each thing will take. Congrats on the marriage!

2016-12-02 01:52:17 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

Put them in a mulch pile. Ash from hardwood trees is high in potassium and is very good for gardens. Use the ashes from your fireplace.

2007-03-15 21:09:27 · answer #7 · answered by nursesr4evr 7 · 0 0

Ashes in your garden are great for growing things. I know lots of people that do this.

2007-03-15 14:35:23 · answer #8 · answered by ncgirl 6 · 0 0

i would assume so seeming as how volcanic soil is so rich in minerals and good for plants. test it out on a few cheap plants first if it works proceede to do it to the rest of the plants.

2007-03-15 14:05:02 · answer #9 · answered by jon 1 · 0 0

Frankly there are those who have done this before, however, I can not believe that putting burnt weeds and brush would do anytthing to help your purpose. If that is what is written in your books go for it. Good Luck.

2007-03-15 13:58:11 · answer #10 · answered by jerry g 4 · 0 2

fedest.com, questions and answers