Ash In The Garden - What Happens, Where To Get It And How To Use It? Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

There were times when all heating and cooking was based solely on burning wood - there was ash … It was used wherever possible: they made lye for washing and washing, and cleaned the dishes, and poured them into the cesspools so that there was no smell, and mice with rats they scared away, and the chickens were rid of parasites, and they themselves were treated. Even the hair was lightened. In the garden-garden, they also used it in every way. And now some summer residents have to buy ash in the store. They will laugh at someone in the outback, in the village. And in vain! This is a business. But I'm not actually talking about business, but about using it in a garden. Not only for plant nutrition, but also for a variety of household needs.

Content:

• What is ash?
• Where to get and where to put ash?
• Seasonal ash use
• Safety engineering
• Bonuses from the use of ash in the garden and vegetable garden

What is ash?

The problem of using ash appeared after buying a house in the Kuban. Gas has not yet reached our village, and the plans for the next year will be ten years. Therefore, the entire heating system is connected to a wood-fired boiler. And in the very first winter it turned out that he produces quite a lot of ash - it's not like to fry kebabs once a week. I had to study the topic thoroughly.

So, from the very beginning: ash is an incombustible residue of any kind of fuel. In this case, we will talk about ash, which remains after burning plant residues, mainly wood.

Ash from burning plastic, chipboard, synthetic materials and even wood, but treated with varnish, paints and impregnations, is not considered, since there is no benefit other than harm from it.

The combustion of coal, especially low-grade coal, gives low-useful ash with a high content of sulfates (sulfuric acid salts) and it will be effective only when mixed with compost. By the way, due to sulphates, coal ash acidifies the soil, in contrast to the rest, which, on the contrary, alkalizes.

Fans of sulfur in the garden (onions, cabbage, garlic, legumes, radish) will be grateful precisely for feeding them with compost with coal ash. And the use of pure coal ash can give the hydrangeas a blue color.

Ash from peat burning is much inferior to wood ash in terms of the content of the main elements: potassium, calcium and phosphorus.

Ash from burning sunflower and buckwheat stalks is very useful on the farm, but this is now exotic. Those who know buckwheat and sunflower farmers are lucky and can have an environmentally friendly high-potassium fertilizer.

The most common ash is wood ash. It is also different: coniferous ash is worse, deciduous ash is better in terms of mineral composition. The highest content of useful substances in the ashes of hard wood species: hornbeam, oak, birch, beech. From fruit - dogwood, cherry, sweet cherry, apple, pear. The most fragrant kebabs are obtained by frying on sprigs of apple, cherry, plum, and even better on walnuts.

Burning dry tops, cuttings of lianas, branches of shrubs and trees can produce ash, even more saturated with trace elements than wood.

Wood ash does not contain nitrogen, but it contains almost all the other elements necessary for plants - it is also obtained from plants. And the form of these elements for plants is quite assimilable. Ash has no analogues among mineral fertilizers, even complex ones.

Where to get and where to put ash?

This is where firewood is heated, ash is abundant. For the overwhelming number of summer residents, obtaining it has already become (taking into account changes in the legislation regarding the burning of something on the site) a problem. All hope is for the grill, although now everything is not so simple with it. That is, those who have wood-burning stoves become the owners of a very valuable resource. But they, more often than not, do not care about him.

Therefore, it is definitely useful to make friends with the local local population who have a wood stove. Or actively use the grill, barbecue, as well as regularly steam in the bath, whoever has it.

Well, here, for example, we ate kebabs, steamed in the bathhouse, in the morning we received half a bucket of already cooled ash. The first step is to make an ash solution in the ratio: a glass of ash to 10 liters of water. It is a universal balanced top dressing for almost all plants, except for those who like acidic soils.

First, it is advisable to feed those plants that have tied up and pour the fruits - with potash dressings, all the fruits are tastier. Strain and spray over the leaves. Not only is this a good foliar feeding, but also the prevention of fungal diseases.

Pour the remaining thick between the bushes of garden strawberries to poison the existence of slugs and weevils. If after spraying the ash still remains, it is not a bad idea to make an ash solution again and pour it around the perimeter of the crown of the trees that have set fruit - it doesn't matter which one. They will all be grateful. But stone fruit - especially.

It will not be superfluous to look back at the weather forecast: if rain is expected, you can simply pour ash into the root zone of the plants, a glass per square meter.

If suddenly the steam room and kebabs stretched out for a week and the ash remained, you need to collect and store it in a metal container, closed with a lid, somewhere under a canopy or indoors: potassium is quickly washed out of the ash with water, and ash dust (if suddenly blown away by the wind) is very harmful to the respiratory tract.

Seasonal ash use

In different seasons, the use of ash can be very diverse: in the spring, dry ash is good for those who dig during digging, and on the surface - for those who do not dig. Approximately 2-3 cups per square meter. It is worth considering that ash (and not only ash, but everything useful) is quickly washed out of the sandy soil by rain and water during irrigation. In this case, it is better to feed the plants with a solution on the leaf, because the ash introduced before sowing will be washed out even before the plants grow roots and can get to it.

When pruning trees in spring, it is good to sprinkle the cuts with ash. And when whitewashing the trunks, in addition to copper sulfate, it is not bad to add ash to the solution (a glass of 5 liters) - this is all protection against fungal diseases.

It is advisable to sprinkle garden strawberries with ash during the period of regrowth of young leaves. That is, both the strawberries themselves and the ground around them. In addition to the actual feeding, this operation will be very unpleasant for weevils getting out of the ground - they are disgusted with gnawing leaves sprinkled with ash.

When sprinkled with ash in spring, the lawn will look noticeably more cheerful and will grow better.

When planting potatoes, dusting the tubers with ash will protect them from fungal diseases and will help build a powerful root system at the start.

The whole cabbage family, from early radish to late autumn radish and cabbage, will be grateful for occasional sprinkling of ash in the morning over the dew (so that the ash sticks). This operation severely spoils the appetite of cruciferous flea beetles and slugs alike. At the same time, the strong smell coming from the plants and attracting cabbage butterflies is somewhat interrupted.

When planting any seedlings, it is good to add ash to the hole, mixing with the soil, about half a handful per plant.

After fruit setting, all plants can be regularly sprayed with ash infusion. Top up 1/3 of the ash bucket with hot water to the top, leave for two days, drain, mix with a spoonful of liquid soap. This, in addition to feeding, will also be protection against leaf-eating pests: sawflies, scoop, aphids, leafworms, moths. Prevents powdery mildew on currants and gooseberries.

Compost, when pouring layers of organic matter with ash, will be enriched with useful micro- and macroelements, and pathogenic microorganisms will decrease.

In autumn, ash is also needed, because potassium helps to increase the winter hardiness of plants - perennials, shrubs and fruit trees can be added to the root zone. Once again, the highest potassium ash comes from burning corn and buckwheat stalks.

In the autumn (and spring, too) division of plants, it is useful to dust the cuts of rhizomes with ash in order to protect them from decay.

Safety engineering

Everything is good in moderation. And this has the most direct relation to the use of ash. An excess of potassium, which is rich in ash, interferes with the absorption of certain elements, including nitrogen. Therefore, you do not need too much, especially during the period of active growth - the plants will lag behind in development.

The highest potassium ash is found in the stems of sunflower and buckwheat, followed by wood ash. It also contains a lot of calcium, which, in excess, prevents the absorption of iron compounds and leads to chlorosis of the leaves.

The use of ash is useful for plants on acidic (especially) and slightly acidic soils. On alkaline, it is better to use it in compost, because the presence of calcium compounds additionally alkalizes the soil.

It is necessary to use ash for feeding acidophilic plants, that is, lovers of acidic soils (rhododendrons, hydrangeas, garden blueberries, ferns, magnolias, conifers, sorrel), you need to be very careful, and even then if the soil is really acidic, and not formed acidic on specific site.

Ash does not need to be mixed with other mineral fertilizers: ash and nitrogen neutralize the beneficial properties of each other, and ash mixed with phosphates can generally destroy plants.

Most of the horror stories about overdose concern soil depleted of microorganisms. Therefore, in organic farming, ash is more beneficial than in traditional farming: the abundance of fungi, bacteria and protozoa in the soil is able to quickly convert many elements into a form assimilable for plants.

The rhizosphere (the environment of the suction root made of microorganisms) will not let the root burn with salts, but will provide it with everything it needs. Also, therefore, the ash does not need to be brought into the sterile soil for seedlings - there is no one to protect the young roots, and the salts will only complicate the life of the seedlings.

Bonuses from the use of ash in the garden and vegetable garden

This one will be of interest to those who have an abundance of ash. A paste made of ash, slightly diluted with water, perfectly cleans dishes, as well as items made of silver, glass and metal.

Ash can be used to absorb odors in the refrigerator - just remember to change it periodically. To neutralize the smell of a country toilet, ash is also used - it is simply poured into the cesspool.

In country conditions, if you need to bleach something, you can boil the thing with the addition of ash. Ash is added in the bag. The result is surprising.

The cat food contains ash, it is very useful for animals. Therefore, if pets eat from the table, then it is useful to add a pinch of ash to their portion.

Multipurpose lye is easy to do. Pour 10 centimeters of wood ash into a 10-liter bucket and pour boiling water to the top. Let stand for three days. If unbearable, you can boil for about an hour, until the mixture is clear and soapy to the touch. Cool and filter. Let stand for another day and drain from the sediment. This will be the lye.

When using, dilute at least 1:10. It is good to wash hair with lye - there is no such variety of trace elements in any shampoo. It is good for them to wash - pour a glass of undiluted lye into the washing machine when it draws water. They are good at washing dishes.

And especially for summer residents: in a liter of warm water, dissolve a teaspoon of sea salt, three tablespoons of wood ash and hold your hands in the solution for about fifteen minutes - the skin of your hands will brighten and become soft.

Such is the ash. It immediately solves a lot of various tasks and is completely environmentally friendly. What we have - we do not store, having lost - we cry….