Cinders/ashes from the fire-good for garden?

[steptoes]

We have been burning wood, coal and briquettes over the winter and have a two barrels of cinders/ ash. Have a large 2 acre garden that we are trying to tame and wonder how I should use these cinders/ash. Should they go on the compost heap? Should they be put around roses? or rhubarb or any particular plant? I'm sure that they must have minerals etc that would be good for the soil but unsure of what to do. Don't want to put them in the wheely bin. I'm sure some of you green fingered jumbletowners will know. Thank you.

[Angelsfishingrod]

Hi was just googling that for you and found this!! interesting!! http://www.publichealth.ns.ca/main.nsf/a87b883834d0202b84256abd005f9703/1e5ee0254bdacdc084256f3b00516bfb/$FILE/Coal%20AshF.pdf. hope I did that right for you.. it seems ash can affect the soil and plants. :(

[Sky]

Hi Steptoes, I never threw out cinders. You can rake the ashes and leave the cinders as a base when you light the fire,or better still, I used to save them in a bucket and throw water on them. Then when your fire gets going and is nice and blazing away put a few shovels of the drained wet cinders on top. They will take a little while to "catch" but the end result is well worth waiting for. A glorious red-hot glowing fire that lasts hours! Worth trying, but make sure you only use the cinders and not the ashes.

[TickTock]

I agree with Sky. Re-use your cinders, they are just half burned coals and have more burning to do for you. Oh I wish I still had my open fire!

[stony]

Slugs and snails hate them.

[mewl81]

Hi was just googling that for you and found this!! interesting!! http://www.publichealth.ns.ca/main.nsf/a87b883834d0202b84256abd005f9703/1e5ee0254bdacdc084256f3b00516bfb/$FILE/Coal%20AshF.pdf. hope I did that right for you.. it seems ash can affect the soil and plants. :(

Link doesnt seem to work have you web site and can find it from there

[Angelsfishingrod]

Hi Steptoe, I knew that was wrong!! and now can't find it again! but I just put in Google search " can ashes be used on garden" and lots of sites came up with different answers, so give that a go. sorry about that. Good luck :)

[mewl81]

Good for filling under decking turns almost solid over time stops mice and rats building homes under enclosed riased decking a few friends have done this and solved mice problems Takes a while to build up (if you wet it and make it sticky to get it to compact quicker if you have a lot speeds up process) it happens over time without this help.

[moloney2]

hello steptoes,
If the ashes are only from wood then you can put them more or less anywhere in the garden as they will feed the soil, however if the ashes are from coal or turf then only put them where you want to supress growth as they will kill most things including grass. Even with the wood ash it must not touch the plant stem as it could damage the plant. The slugs and snails find it quite irritating and will try to avoid it so might be good as a barrier around the veg plot. We have a stove and only burn wood so for the past two years have used the ashes in the garden with sucess- the wood ash eventually disolves into the soil and the plants seem to benefit from it. Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
moloney2

[steptoes]

This is fantastic. I knew it was confusing and that there were differing opinions on what is best. I think I had better er on the side of caution and keep the coal cinders/ash well away from anwhere I want to actually grow something, especially something we want to eat. Hopefully I will get better at using wood but for real heat on an open fire the coal is hard to beat.

[lilac]

Hi steptoes, I use the ahes from my coal fire & put them under my hedges, it helps to stop the growth of unwanted weeds. I have realllly long hedges, have been doing this for years & find very little weeds. lol Lilac

[bullg]

We have been burning wood, coal and briquettes over the winter and have a two barrels of cinders/ ash. Have a large 2 acre garden that we are trying to tame and wonder how I should use these cinders/ash. Should they go on the compost heap? Should they be put around roses? or rhubarb or any particular plant? I'm sure that they must have minerals etc that would be good for the soil but unsure of what to do. Don't want to put them in the wheely bin. I'm sure some of you green fingered jumbletowners will know. Thank you.
hi we use ash and cinders all the time rhubarb growes very healty and quick
onions grow gint size. snails and slugs hate them. very good in rose beds
you should see my wife;s rose beds.