What do I do with the ashes?

I burned a bunch of slash last year directly on my garden plot and then hand tilled the ashes in the the soil (which was pretty poor at that point). I think if you put too much in it will raise the pH of the soil. You can always balance that by adding other things to the soil. I tilled in a bunch of compost later in the year and the plants are growing vigorously so I don't think it had an adverse effect.

 

Blueberries, wisteria, evergreens, and other acid-loving plants might like a little.

You can contact the Extension office of the state university, too. They will have the answer for you

 

Didn't you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books? Or the Firefox books? You drip water through wood ash, it makes lye, for soap, a strong alkali, not a strong acid. Spread it on your garden to reduce the acidity of soil.

Here in the East, with pedalfer and generally acid soils, you don't think twice about spreading wood ash. I used to dump my bar-b-q grill on the garden all the time. Same concept as spreading lime. In the West, with generally pedocal soils, you'd want to check soil Ph first. Unless it's already alkaline, spreading the ashes on the garden is a good thing. Dump 'em to kill a weed or two, then till them in eventually to reduce soil acidity.

 

I don't know how it is in the West, but here, you can either tell by what plants thrive, or for that matter you can buy at $10 meter that'll tell you. Here, if you have a lot of wild violets in the lawn, and your azaleas and rhododendrons do well, it's a pretty good bet the soil is acid. But the only gardening problems arise at the extremes, as some nutrients get too bound up in the soil for some plants, if the soil is too acid or too alkaline. A modest amount of wood ash will add micronutrients and is unlikely to change your soil Ph by much anyway.

 

If your soil is mostly clay, it needs all the compost it can get. Dig down deep and mix it in thoroughly to improve water retention and nutrients. Most plants prefer a neutral ph soil - not too acidic, and not too alkaline. Judging by San Diego's dry location near the ocean, I'd guess the soil is already on the alkaline side, so using ash, as you would lime, to raise the soil's ph may not be the best thing. Your local gardening supply store should have soil test kits for not very much; or borrow some litmus paper from a lab at school. Depending on where you've added compost already, different areas of your yard will have different ph levels.

 

make gravy

 

Just a wild thought here,

Why not just put them in the container of your choice, and throw them away?

What ever do you do with your fireplace ashes????

Here is SoCal you could wait for the Santa Anna's to whip up and blow them to the 4 winds!!!!

Of course theres always the garden, just not too much!


73 de Pat KK6PD

 

I don't think that there's a "safe" way to use charcoal ash in your garden or compost pile. Remember, charcoal and wood ash are different.

In general, I try and recycle everything that I can, but everything I've ever read says that you should put the charcoal ash in the trash. I know that's not very satisfying, but try drop "charcoal ash recycle" into Google and pull the handle.....