Fire ash

[nickpgood]

Hi all

I just burnt a load of weeds (and some wood) down at the allotment but i am not sure whether i can use the ash in the garden. The thing is we burnt it in a rusty old oil drum and the ash is very red. I am not sure whether this means the ash contains a lot of iron and hence is not suitable to dig in.
Can anyone advise?

Cheers

Nick

[Jeanied]

Hi Nick - as far as I can tell, iron is not a prob on the soil - the only ash that is not helpful is as from general waste or coal/coke so plant matter and wood should be just fine. Just don't put it on too thickly in any one spot and don't let it touch plant stems.

[Snadger]

Soil when it's bunt goes red.............if the weeds had soil on them?

I would sprinkle it around fruit trees or on the brassica patch in lieu of lime!

[snohare]

Ferrous oxides, not only not harmful but in some places positively helpful ! In Africa there are actually things called keyhole gardens where they add cans to give them the missing iron they need to grow vegetables.

[Snadger]

Ferrous oxides, not only not harmful but in some places positively helpful ! In Africa there are actually things called keyhole gardens where they add cans to give them the missing iron they need to grow vegetables.

My dear auld Dad used to have a pile of scrap iron at the upper end of his leek trench to hopefully achieve the same thing!