Best and worse disposal idea for fireplace ash

[Fuddy1952]

Dad (rip) used to dig a hole for ashes out of their fireplace and stove. It worked well and was safe and about 100 ft from house.

 

[ruffdog]

Good article about using ashes in your garden.

Wood Ash Fertilizer - Should I Put Ashes In My Garden

 

[kenmbz]

Good , brief article , thanks ruffdog

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Excellent question and excellent answers. This is why TBN is so great. I will be saving my ashes for the garden from now on. I have always thrown it under trees and such, but I will be more selective from now on.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Makes me kind of think that for the hassle of using ashes to fertilize, why not just get fertilizer? I'm all for saving money, but not when I could ruin all my time and effort spent on the garden by doing something wrong. And I will! Can't anything about gardening ever be easy and straightforward?

Maybe I shouldn't even be throwing it on the fence lines. How many trees have I killed thinking I was doing them good?

 

[dragoneggs]

Makes me kind of think that for the hassle of using ashes to fertilize, why not just get fertilizer? I'm all for saving money, but not when I could ruin all my time and effort spent on the garden by doing something wrong. And I will! Can't anything about gardening ever be easy and straightforward?

Maybe I shouldn't even be throwing it on the fence lines. How many trees have I killed thinking I was doing them good?

It's not rocket science. Just toss the ashes and rake them in a bit. Take a look at roadside fires where someone likely through a cigarette out and scorched the median. A month or two later you will see bright green growth. Same thing with forest fires. The forest regenerates well due to the nutrients put back in the soil.

The fertilizers you buy are far more potent and you have a better chance of burning your plants by overdosing them vs. with ash.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I think a pile of stove or fireplace ashes are quite concentrated. A grass fire, not so much.

I do have a stockpile of chicken manure (very strong) and well composted cow manure. I was going to use some cow poop in the garden shortly and till it in to sit the winter. Of course, that too, has to have special instructions. Can't just spread it amoung the plants.

Nothing I ever do in the garden turnes out well and IF it's good for one plant, it's bad for another!

 

[4570Man]

I think a pile of stove or fireplace ashes are quite concentrated. A grass fire, not so much.

I do have a stockpile of chicken manure (very strong) and well composted cow manure. I was going to use some cow poop in the garden shortly and till it in to sit the winter. Of course, that too, has to have special instructions. Can't just spread it amoung the plants.

Nothing I ever do in the garden turnes out well and IF it's good for one plant, it's bad for another!

I throw them off the porch and deck. It’s somewhere between a heavy application and mounds. The grass is always greener there and certainly not killed.

 

[dragoneggs]

Ha Ha IT... the ash is a lot of calcium and potassium. As long as you aren't putting on several inches you will be fine. Now Steer and especially Chicken manure yeah, very 'hot'. I never put that on/in a growing garden. I will use manure when it will lay fallow over the winter and make sure it gets tilled in well.

 

[Jstpssng]

Mix your ashes with the manure and let it cure for a year. Better yet, buy a book or two on gardening to read over the course of the winter, to get a better idea of what you can do differently.
I had a soil test done this year which told me not to add ashes or lime to my garden as the pH is already at it's highest limit. I wish I had waited until I had the report, now I have 6 bags of lime in storage until I decide what to do with it.

I've also got about a yard of material which is a combination of decayed wood mixed with soil from my old stump dump; mixed in with fresh turkey manure. I won't be using that until 2022.