I am wondering if there are any uses for wood ashes. We do not use our fireplace often, but every now and then we have a bucket of ashes to carry out. I know they are alkaline, so should not be used for plants requiring an acidic soil. Are there plants that like them? Or can I just sprinkle them around our lawn (a totally organic mixture of grass and various weeds) without doing any harm?
Any lawn/garden uses for wood ashes?
A little bit won't change the pH of the soil. It's a good source of potassium. I would put it around any plants except true acid lovers like Rhodies, Azalea, etc., though in small amounts it probably would not hurt them either. Just make sure the wood had no chemicals applied to it. Also you can compost it.
Our soil is naturally pretty acidic, so we use ashes from our wood stove on the veggie garden and the lawn, both of which like slightly sweeter soil. The farmer who plants the corn field next door uses wood ash from a large wood-burning power plant (certified organic soil amendment) as a substitute for lime, though the quantity differs; you can't just substitute an equal quantity of ash for lime.
Not a garden use, but it makes a pretty good anti-skid surface on icy driveways and such in the winter as well if it's in a location where the mess won't be a factor.
My hubby spreads all the ashes from our smoker in our gardens.
I used to have a wood stove I used all winter and a LOT of ashes. I remember baffling the Cooperative Extension Service because they couldn't understand how I had alkaline soil.
I throw my wood ash in the veggie garden and peonys. this site http://www.countrybrookfarms.com/Soilph.html gives a list of the ph needed for several popular plants. If you have naturally acidic soil, as I do, there are several plants that will apreciate a little sweetening.
Thanks for the link cfarres!
I also use it as a sugar substitute.
You don't need any sweetening, Victor.
We put the ashes in the compost, spreading some in each bin. Thanks for the link, cfarres. I'll use some for my pink hydrangeas.
Thank you Pirl.
It's just rotten when I have to think of handsome, sweet men like Victor as being younger than my son! Dang it!
Edited to add: and witty, funny and sharp as a tack!
This message was edited Jun 21, 2007 1:38 PM
And with a growing ego thanks to you!!
Thank you, everyone, for both the suggestions and the humor. [So that's what's in those diet soft drinks! :)] Guess I can sprinkle the ashes around the lawn without concern. And I may try them out on a very boring hydrangea. My former neighbor, who was in her 90's, called it a summer hydrangea. It has white flowers, which are fine, but unlike the later variety I was familiar with, instead of the blossoms turning to nice shades of pink and mauve as the season goes on, they just turn brown. I think it is a different variety and have seen others around, but nothing ventured nothing gained.
Are they big round blossoms? If so, sounds like H. arborescens. 'Annabelle' is a common one. They should be pruned down to the ground in late Winter. White flowered Hydrangea are not affected by soil pH like the blue / pink macrophylla ones are.
Yes, the blossoms are large, but I had not noticed them to be larger than the other type of hydrangea. Prune to the ground--really? We have done some serious pruning because it tends to take over--I had decided it was a hydrangea weed--but never to the ground. What is the advantage of that? My neighbor and I--the shrub is on the property line--used to cut off the blooms after they turned brown because they looked so terrible.
It blooms on new wood. I don't mean literally to the ground but way down (couple of inches) so you get nice new growth and no ugly legs. My 'Annabelle' blossoms are much bigger than the regular mophead Hydrangea - as much as 12-14 inches in diameter!
Victor - do your Annabelles fall over in heavy summer rains and touch the ground? We know someone with that problem and I was curious if it was a trait of the plant.
Yes they do. They're so big that the weight of the water makes them flop, or floop. I'm not into staking. There is another arborescens that I have (forgot the name) that is supposed to be less floppy. This is the first year it is growing nicely so we'll see.
Could it be 'Big Daddy' - white huge head with red speckles? I bought it last year and the heads measure 12". I put my coffee mug next to it to show the size of the head.
No it's all white like 'Annabelle'.
Is it also floopy. I did it on purpose this time.
This will be the first year (hopefully) with blooms. I'll keep you posted - with a post.
Great. I'll check up on Big Daddy tomorrow to see if there are heads forming.
Victor - What do you mean by ugly legs? There are usually a lot of grey stalks that are dead. I try to prune them out, but with all the other branches in the way it is tricky. Or do you just mean the old branches that the new growth appears on? It is just starting to flower and I have not been out to visit it, but I just looked out the window and it looks very green and full. Also, when is "late winter"? Do you go by the month or the snowfall and temperature?
Yes - old branches with new growth. You can prune any time up until the new growth is about to start. (Even later - it will just set things back).
Victor, Did you mean old wood with no blooms?
Marcha, January or Feb is fine. But I think in VT, late winter may be Oct. through April ;)
Do I detect zone teasing?
We are 5a, but I see that is cold to the rest of you! Actually, we had a very mild winter in southern Vermont this year. But the snow came in "late winter" (spring to us, a.k.a "mud season"), so it was May before we did much garden work. I usually cut things back in late fall--end of October--when the leaves get raked, or even later if the plant still looks good. But I can see that might not work for the hydrangea, if the conditions are still such that new growth starts and then gets zapped by the cold.
Wouldn't matter for the arborescens. Everything starts anew in Spring!