Put your Wood Ashes to Good Use
If you have a fireplace, if you cook with wood, or if you have an outdoor fire pit, you can recycle your ashes rather than throwing them away. They're good for your lawn and garden. You can use them to melt ice to make walkways and driveways safer. Wood ash can be used to clean everything from silverware to concrete. In fact, ashes have been put to good use in a number of ways for thousands of years.
A little history
Per the Old Farmer's Almanac, wood ash has been used as a cleaning agent for at least 5,000 years. Have you heard of lye soap? Lye is collected by passing water through wood ash. Our ancestors made soap by mixing lye with animal fat. For hundreds of years, ashes have been used in the creation of glazing for pottery and ceramics. In America's early days, wood floors were scrubbed using a mix of ash and water. Ashes were also an early form of laundry detergent and were even used to create a soak for slaughtered hogs in order to make it easier to remove hair from their hides.
Melt ice and increase traction
Using salt to melt ice on walkways and driveways can produce some unwanted results. Salt can be harmful to animals' paws. It can also do damage to the pavement. While ash doesn't work as fast as salt, it doesn't cost anything, nor does it come with salt's negative side effects. Just sprinkle it on the icy areas as you would apply salt. Note that you'll want to make sure to have a rug available for those entering your house as ash can be a bit messy, but it does the job.
Increasing the pH and adding essential nutrients to your lawn and garden
Ash is a good source of essential plant nutrients including magnesium, calcium, and potassium, and has similar properties to lime. Lime, made from limestone or calcium carbonate, is used to increase soil pH, but it can take six months to do the job. Because it dissolves in water, ash increases pH and delivers essential nutrients much quicker.
As with applying any other fertilizer, you'll want to test your soil before using wood ash on your lawn or in the garden. To learn more about soil testing and how to do it, you can contact your local extension office, buy a test kit online or at your home and garden center, or see almanac.com/how-take-soil-test. If testing reveals a pH level between 6.5 and 7.0, that's an optimum range for most plants. Rapidly increasing the pH by adding ash is not recommended, as it could damage vegetation. Also, don't apply ash around plants that require acidic soil. Among others, these include blueberries, azaleas, and holly.
As a rule, for soil with a pH test result of 6.5 or below, you can safely apply a five-gallon bucket of wood ash to every 1,000 square feet of lawn and/or garden area annually, thus increasing essential plant nutrient levels without raising the pH to the point that it becomes harmful.
As an additional benefit, ash repels slugs. These garden pests can do a lot of damage. Their bodies are, however, irritated by ashes. If you have a slug problem, sprinkle a small amount of ash around the affected plants. You'll need to reapply it after every rain, as the ashes will wash away.
Ash as an absorbent
You can buy a 40-pound bag of oil absorbent for around $10 to remove those oil spills and stains from pavements, concrete, or stone driveways and floors, but ashes can serve the same purpose without the cost. Simply apply ash to the oil or oil stain, rub or brush it in, then sweep it up. Repeat the process as needed for stubborn stains.
Clean glass and metal
A paste made from hardwood ashes and water is a very effective cleaner. Just put on some gloves and grab a damp cloth, and you'll be ready to remove that irritating tacky film left when stickers are removed. You can also clean glasses and glass stovetops, remove tarnish from silver, do away with grease and grime, and clean your grill. Just scrub lightly with the paste and rinse with water and a clean cloth. A soft cotton cloth is recommended for this purpose.
Summing up...
Sometimes things you would ordinarily throw away without a second thought can be repurposed and even save you some money. Ashes from your fireplace, grill, or fire pit can fertilize your lawn and garden, make your driveway and walk safer by thawing ice, remove oil stains, and help keep household items clean, all without cost. Why not give it a try?
If you have an outdoor fireplace or fire pit we always have bulk wood available. We also sell pellets and wood blocks for your smokers. Contact us today for our most updated inventory.
