What do you who heat with wood do with a winters' worth of wood ashes?

[roadhunter]

No trash, just cut and split year old dry oak and hickory. Same problem with dumping them on the yard - any remaining hot coals are sure fire, fire starters. Too many days of no rain/no snow all winter to be practical. Thanks.

There is no reason to dump hot ashes but if you put them in a metal container for a couple of days they will be safe to dump anywhere you want without starting a fire. Very practical.

Last I checked Gainesville Missouri was no a desert either. 42 inches of rain per year.

I have a 1 million BTU wood chip boiler that I run and I do clean outs every few days as I burn 10 yards of wood chips per day. I leave the ashes in a steel trash can and dump them the next day. No problem with fires and we get less than half the moisture that you do as well as a whole lot more wind.

 

[nickmags]

How big is your garden? I spend my around and till it in in the spring. Mine is only 50' x 65' ( just the two of us now) and I've altered my soil PH from 6.8 to 7.5 in just four years with 5 cords worth of ash per year. Such that my Tomatoes are starting to look yellow year round, and produce poorly.
x65'

I burn about 10 cords a year, ALL of the ash goes my garden, we just spread it around...

SR

 

[nickmags]

Both you and EddieWalker mentioned using a metal barrel/can. Thanks got both sitting around, why I didn't think of using one or the other for interim storage till there are no hot coals, I do not know. But again, thanks.

I remember the wind in Nebraska, never stops. Only places I saw it worse is just north of you in the Dakotas, and west into Wyoming.

 

[CalG]

Both you and EddieWalker mentioned using a metal barrel/can. Thanks got both sitting around, why I didn't think of using one or the other for interim storage till there are no hot coals, I do not know. But again, thanks.

I remember the wind in Nebraska, never stops. Only places I saw it worse is just north of you in the Dakotas, and west into Wyoming.

If the ashes should go in the garden or on the yard would depend on if you have alkaline or acid soils. Here in New England, Acid soils dominate, and I can't put down enough wood ashes to make much of a difference.

Still, I clean out the wood stoves, the ash goes into the metal ash can (with a cover) and they sit for a week or more outdoors.
When the can is full, (heavy too) The ash goes on the driveway ice if we have it. If no ice it goes onto the compost heap to mix with the leaves and hardwood chips (both acidic).

The parlor stove burns down to cold ash every night it's fired. It also has a small ash pan just right for carrying directly out to the garden to be placed on the soil or snow. I usually furrow it a bit to keep the front yard looking good ;-)

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I use wood ashes as compost pile amendment. Leaves are highly acid, and the ash helps neutralize that. Grass clippings, coffee grounds, vegetable waste, all go onto the compost pile and gets layered with the ash. If you are in a desert area, you have to keep the pile damp to compost. Turn it a couple times in the winter, and by spring it's ready to go on the garden.

 

[turnkey4099]

I burn 6-7 cord, been doing it since 1976. Stove has an ashpan, when full I carry it out and "sling it" sspreading the ashes on the lawn. The land pretty much in 3 different areas abut that is a lot of ash over the eyars. Oddly, the best grass in in two of those areas...but then it was also the best grass before I sstarted.

 

[TnAndy]

Carry ours out in a coal bucket where they sit a couple days, then I dump them in a 55gal drum. Drum is full by spring (3-4 cord/winter), it goes on the garden. Our soil runs acid here, and two garden spaces are about 1/4ac.....doubt I could generate enough to be a problem.

 

[Oaktree]

IHere in New England, Acid soils dominate, and I can't put down enough wood ashes to make much of a difference.

Still, I clean out the wood stoves, the ash goes into the metal ash can (with a cover) and they sit for a week or more outdoors.
When the can is full, (heavy too) The ash goes on the driveway ice if we have it. If no ice it goes onto the compost heap to mix with the leaves and hardwood chips (both acidic).

On average 30-40% of mine go on the driveway. There's enough of a slope from the road that it can be dangerous if it gets icy (and it usually does).
As you noted, soils tend to be acid here, so most of the rest either goes in the garden or used to kill moss.

 

[4570Man]

I throw them on the yard. At the end of the winter the yard I'd noticeably greener where I dump them. I let them sit in a metal bucket until the next time I need to clean out the stove. You would need more than one bucket if you wanted to let them cool completely. It takes a couple days.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How big is your garden?

I no longer have huge gardens, but they are big enough so we can, can/freeze all the food we need for winter.

Here's the front garden,

and the back garden,

EVERY year I mulch the plants in heavy, so adding the ashes is no big deal.

SR