Wood Ash

[Geordie]

I posted an article all about the benefits of composting and I do stand by that but there comes a time when nothing short of a good bonfire will do!
As allotments and gardens are cleared many people have an annual bonfire, (where permitted!) so these are my tips for the many uses of the wood ash you are left with.

• mix it with peas to repel the mice
• plant potatoes in wood ash if scab is a problem
• Set your root crops in a furrow, cover with ash and water the furrow. Cover with a plank of wood and check daily for slugs & snails. This speeds germination and provides a fertiliser.
• Scatter ash from fine nylon mesh over brassicas to repel cabbage whites and kill the caterpillars.
• Ash strewn amongst carrots and onions can deter the respective flys
• Spread amongst Gooseberry bushes and on leaves it will deter sawfly, shake the caterpillars onto the ash and they will not climb back.
• Infuse in water for a foliar spray
• Add to a compost (aaha heres the link!!) heap that has become to acidic (fruit flies can indicate acidity).
• Mix in generous amounts with pine needles to make the best possible mulch for strawberries. I'm not sure why but think its because the needles raise the acidity which strawbs love, the ash acts as a counter but provides potash, and the slugs and snails hate both.

The site you have your bonfire on will be a premium space for sighting any fruit bush next spring....they love the potash and phosphorus left in the soil. All the perennial weeds will have been destroyed as well.

[dni_dave]

Coal ash

Geordie - another excellent post.

However, my In-Laws have a stove and burn both wood and coal (we are in the countryside so don't have to burn smokeless fuel) and they tip this ash away.

If I bought them a bucket (metal obviously ) would I be able to use this on the veggie patch as well? I'd say they burn 40% coal, 60% wood and it does burn with little to no flame (indication of air flow perhaps?) so there isn't a great deal of ash in the morning.

I've also seen somewhere that you can compost the contents of the vacuum cleaners and animal hair. Soon I'll be asking for a council tax rebate as we're putting out virtually nothing these days for the dustbin, what with recycling as well.

[lucky]

How much wood ash to add?
we burn only wood on our fire (i've heard that coal ash can contain high levels of heavy metals). I'm wondering how much ash I can add to the veg patch/ compost heap as there could be quite alot by the end of the winter.

[Geordie]

Coal ash should be safe enough but has virtually no nutrients so on its own is of no value. If mixed with wood ash it should make little difference so yes you can use a mix.
Ash is fine stored in a sealed bucket untill needed, you can even use it to store your rootcrops in instead of peat or sand as usually advised.

Ash should be added to compost heap as a layer 1/4" thick maybe but can be liberally spread around plants as previously posted.
I know human hair can be composted....any difference in animal hair? As for contents of vaccum cleaner....I guess it depends on what you have hoovered up!

[dni_dave]

Vacuum cleaner contents

I'm sure that most of the stuff you hoover up (certainly in our case) is made up of the following;

Textile fibers, decomposing insect parts, pet dander, human and animal hair, food leftovers, pollen grains, mold spores, bacteria, skin flakes, soil particles, dust mites. Sounds awful.

All/most of which will go well in small amounts in the compost. It certainly saves it from going to landfill anyway.

With 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 pigmy goats and a pony we have plenty of donor hair/fur. The horse already contributes in the obvious way (for one pony the output is certainly plentiful ), it's about time the others started earning their keep.

[Hardy]

human hair

Do you find that human hair actually rots? I used to add the contents of my brush to the compost heap but it just seemed to stay an ugly mat - didn't seem worth the bother of adding it (though if it was mixed in with your hoover contents I wouldn't take it out either!!)

[Esther Greentree]

I have two daughters and the 3 of us generate huge amounts of hair on hairbrushes. I put that in the compost bin, and I've never found any mat of hairs in the resulting compost. I guess it depends how active your compost bin is, but it does work for me.