Homesteader Life

Every year folks ask me whether or not you can put wood ashes on your garden. I have been puting hardwood ashes on our gardens for a couple of years. I call it “poor man’s lime” becouse it very alkaline and works well to correct very acid soils like we have here. Wood ashes are much more than a “poor man’s lime” though, they are good source of minerals. Ashes are 5 to 7 percent potassium and 1 1/2 to 2 percent phosphorus. They also contain 25 to 50 percent calcium compounds. They are very water soluable and should be applied in the spring. They can’t be stored outside in the rain and snow becouse they will leach out before you get them on the garden. The experts say the average application is 5 to 10 pounds per 100 square feet and that if you over do it you can end up with salts in the soil. In years past using wood ashes in the garden was considered a “given” and most old timers in the acid hill country always used them. The best part is that they are free and generated on the homestead.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.