Wood ash applications in home and garden

 Wood ash use in the home garden

When your primary heating source is wood, you may find yourself cleaning the woodstove a little during the colder months of the year.

Before long you throw out your gray bucket once or twice a week.

But where? What do you do with all that ash?

We will help you put a dent in those buckets of powder ash by-products.

The resulting pieces of ash and charcoal are filled with minerals. In addition, its natural alkalinity and mild abrasive texture will make wood ash work around the house and garden.

Even if you use only a few of these suggestions, you will end up with an empty gray bucket in the spring.

Security first

It is important to note that this list considers you to burn clean wood and does not burn chemically treated wood such as pressure-treated stained or painted wood.

If the hot dog is not roasting on the fire, do not use it around your house.

Hardwoods generally contain more nutrients than softwoods such as pine, but softwoods provide softer ash than hardwoods.

1. Adjust the acid soil

Wood ash is an excellent soil fix for high acidity soils.

According to a collaborative expansion at the University of California, Davis, the ash could be used to balance the pH of acid soils. It is best to test the pH of your soil first before applying, but generally, the co-expansion recommends using 5-10 pounds of ash per 100 square feet.

Before planting, the best time to do this is when you are plowing directly into the soil. If you rub your wood ash into the soil with young plants already growing, do not forget to rinse them later as the ash will burn the leaves.

2. Increase your fertilizer

To lighten your compost pile with a little ash, this enhances the nutrient-dense microbial environment that cooks in your compost.

Those tiny particles of fine charcoal mixed in the ash provide your manure that produces the oxygen needed for the happiest microbes.

The pore nature of charcoal means that all the minerals in the ash are absorbed and deposited in your manure instead of being let out by rain.

3. Keep bears away from your manure

Ashley from Practical Self Reliance says that if you sprinkle your compost heap with wood ash, it prevents the bears from mistaking it for a buffet.

Again, keep in mind that wood ash is spicy, so do not add too much. Test the whole mill at a time and test with the pH kit.

4. Stop snails and snails in their thin tracks

Snails and snails, no matter how beautiful, can wreak havoc in the garden. There is nothing more frustrating than coming out one day with your cabbage that looks like Battenberg lace.

Stop slimy little crawling by creating a gray circle around plants that are susceptible to snails and snails.

I feel like a merciful white witch throwing a safety circle around my precious shiitake and oyster mushroom sticks with the ashes provided by our wood stove in the store. Although I will not touch my mushrooms!

5. Bust blossom end rot

Seeing that first black spot on the base of your beautiful tomato is enough to bring tears to anyone’s eyes because you know it is still the beginning of blooming rot.

At the beginning of the season, avoid it by giving extra levels of calcium to vulnerable plants.

When you plant tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and peppers; Throw a small handful of wood ash into the hole before pushing your plant into the dirt.

6. Protect crops from frost damage

When the temperature starts to drop in the fall, there is nothing faster than the threat of frost in the heart of a gardener.

I still remember my grandmother “ducking” tomatoes with old bedsheets on cold nights. Do not worry, spray your plants with some powdered wood ash to prevent frost damage.

7. Repel rats and other pests

There is something in the ashes that repel rats, mice, cockroaches, and other common household insects.

Use this natural pest control to keep it out of your home without resorting to dangerous and toxic chemicals. Spray it on the corners of your floor, garage, basement, and pantry.

To make sure rats get free food, I like to spray it in the corners of my kitchen cabinets.