What to do with firepit ashes

[Steve Bakken]

Our firepit was overflowing the ring so now i've got two wheelbarrows full of ashes that I dug out. The question is--what to do with them. I remember my mother spreading the ash from our woodburning stove on the garden all winter when I was a kid. Is this good? I thought about spreading it around under our trees, too, but I'm not sure if that would be overkill. Anyone got any ideas on where to dump it?

[boec0020]

Depends...did you only burn clean wood? If so, spread them in the garden. If not, make sure they are cool and bring them to a landfill or put them in the garbage can.

Don't burn anything other than clean wood...the ticket is costly!

[Nainoa]

Depends I will put wood ash on my back garden from the woodstove I use to heat my fish house... But back there I grow vegetables that prefer alkaline soil... I would NEVER spread it on the garden I plant my acidic loving plants on...

If I need to add soluable pot ash to those soils (Depending on chemistry needs) I'll char and add charcoal, but not Ash.

My fire pit I pile out at the edge of the woods, let the rain work it over for a season and then I'll put black dirt on top of it the next year, and let it break itself down into a hump.

[Dotch]

Our firepit was overflowing the ring so now i've got two wheelbarrows full of ashes that I dug out. The question is--what to do with them. I remember my mother spreading the ash from our woodburning stove on the garden all winter when I was a kid. Is this good? I thought about spreading it around under our trees, too, but I'm not sure if that would be overkill. Anyone got any ideas on where to dump it?

Steve,

It would depend somewhat on the plants you're growing in the garden and to some degree what the pH was to start with. On the soils where your mother was putting the ashes (I live on the next farm place south folks), typically pH's run neutral to slightly acid. The primary nutrients supplied in order of relative importance are potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. The pH of wood ash is alkaline but the material has about half the neutralizing capacity that lime does. What I would suggest as long as the wood you were burning was clean, not treated & you're concerned about messing up your garden is to get permission to spread it in a thin layer on a farmer's field. Ash from ethanol plants and from the turkey manure burning plant is being spread on fields with no adverse effect on the crops. It is extremely high pH, about 12 - 13. It also supplies a large amount of potassium and phosphorus although the puzzling thing so far has been the lack of increase in soil test values vs. commercial fertilizer when tests are taken the year following application.