I am heating my house, for the fist time, with wood this year. I have collected 4 garbage cans full (50 gal.)but I have not a clue what I can use it for. I thought about putting in the compost but I was told not to do that because it will make it too basic.

Do you use it for composting minerals into the soil?

Do you use it for anything else?

If you do not have any uses for it what do you do with yours?

Thank you in advance,

-- Storybook Farm (mumaw@socket.com), February 11, 2001

Answers

use your ashes in the garden an exelent source of potash scater them dry because it leaches rapidly .in concentrations it can be rather basic but that is almost never a problem in the humid east might be a consideration in the west where it (never)rains.wish i had more ashes here!pre-chemical days ashes were sold as fertlize .they can be used to give traction on icey roads and are used in some pottery glaazesat one time leaching potash for soap making and glass were a use for ashes

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), February 11, 2001.

Hubby scatters it on the garden. Or we think it's the garden it's been covered with snow since November. I'm wanting spring real bad.

Stacy Rohan in Windsor, NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), February 11, 2001.

Use it to mulch around your rose bushes--they love it! I did this 2 years ago and had the best blooms ever!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), February 11, 2001.

I sift it of any unburned "coal",, then sprinkle it around,, the garden,, herbs,, trees. Unless I plan on making soap soon,, then I save it and leach the lye out of it.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 11, 2001.

I use all of mine in our composting toilet. It really neutralises odors. I sprinkle some ash then cover with saw dust. We also put it on the sidewalks when they were covered with ice and they melted a lot quicker. Lots of folks use it in outhouses. Hmm since it neutralses odors you might find uses for it around the barn too.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), February 11, 2001.

I sprinkle our ashes anywhere I don't want grass to grow. Cracks in the driveway, etc. I also use a bucket per week on the corner of the pig pen used for the "hog potty", it makes everything odor free. After a soaking rain, I spread a layer of ashes over the ground of the hen run and put fresh straw over it, keeps the ground sweet smelling. I use some in the garden, but not too much and some in the compost. I put a layer of ashes in the milking area too and spread fresh straw over that. Again, it keeps odors away and the ashes and straw help keep the cow from slipping on the concrete.

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@gateway.net), February 11, 2001.

My daylilies especially appreciate the ashes. Since we started putting them on the lily beds I have noticed the colors and plants are healthier and more vibrant. Never thought about them for odor control, will have to try that.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 11, 2001.

Onions also appreciate ashes.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), February 11, 2001.

All of the above. Plus, when I found a perfectly good 'spreader' in the garbage, I brought it home to 'ash lime' the "lawn." The clover and herbs are taking over the 'green monster' just beautifully, and with any luck, in a year or so we can put the lawn mower, where I found the spreader!

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), February 11, 2001.

A good no cost solution for icy walks and driveways!!I don't know where you are. We are up here in New york State...lots of ice and snow. Just this week had a warm spell, rain, and now everything is 10 degrees and ice everywhere. My husband went through a 55 gallon drum of wood ashes on the driveways and the barnyard.We have always used all our ashes up in the winter this way. Doesn't seem to hurt the grass.Right next to the backdoor and on the porch steps I use sand as that doesn't track in the house so bad.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), February 11, 2001.

I use it under the shavings in the dairy barn. Which then make it back into the raised garden beds. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 12, 2001.

Vicky, maybe this should be another thread but I noticed you used shavings. What kind? Do you spead them on the garden right away or do you compost? I read once that they would leach a lot of nitrogen when they were decomposing. I like shavings in the ease of handling in my old age, but wondering about the above questions. If you have some answers, please share. Thanks

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 12, 2001.

Hi Diane, though for years I used kiln dried shavings, I now have a man who uses a planner on pine and cedar for cabinet making. He must plane alot of wood since he can fill my order on a weekend of 20 or 30 huge plastic bales of shavings. Most of it is nice big curls, but you can also tell he sweeps up the sawdust also. Though I have heard all the mastitis warnings about using non kiln dried shavings, have to admit other than a doe who freshened with mastitis this winter, we just don't have mastitis woes! We fill the barn in November, making a spot cleanout in January after the does have kidded. Very honestly when I have show sales I also may refresh the top of the barn with some clean shavings :) Then the big clean, down to sand at Easter, in which I usually start yet another 1 or 2 raised beds. I plant, seedlings like tomatoes or cucumbers in the new beds, since seeds would get lost amongst all the berries, and it is way to fluffy to compact around the seeds. When I do plant in the new beds, I make a hole with my hand and fill it with soil from another bed. This makes a nice hot hole for the plants to grow in and lots of rich fertilizer. By the next year, the beds have shrunk down, I add more barn cleanings, and by the third year it truly is soil. I do compost the January cleaning, with all the spent hay. When folks come to visit they are always intrigued by my rasied beds, and especially the amount of food that obviously is in those beds. They always dig in the soil and are amazed that I never added any "dirt" :) The rest of the year in the barn I simply rake with a leaf rake, about every other day, or weekends at the least, down to fresh soil. I like the leaf rake as it doesn't take out all the soil like the old rake I used to have. About a wheel barrow full of berries, a weekend is cleaned out of the 30x40 barn, and is used as mulch around trees, or to fill in any raised beds that are down (composted down) after a rain. I love the raised beds because having to chemical (sin I know) kill fireants, this way at least I can spread the poison around the beds, and not in the soil or in with the plants. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 12, 2001.

My hens LOVE to dust in old cold ashes - guess it takes care of any mites on 'em.

-- Eve in FL (owenall@lwol.com), February 13, 2001.