Ashes for tomatoes?

[HEChicken]

We have a small fireplace that we only use occasionally. I.e., it creates ambience more than heat. Yesterday I cleaned it out and have a bucket of ashes. I figured there has to be a use for them somewhere around here so I googled it and found a list of "10 ways to use ashes…." Most of them are not practical ideas for me for one reason or another but the one that stood out was the suggestion to put a scoop in the hole when transplanting tomato starts into their permanent location. I'd never heard of this before and wonder if anyone here is familiar with this idea or has tried it themselves. Results?

While we're at it, I know many people create far more ashes every year than we do. What do you do with them?

 

[NwMtGardener]

On the occasions when i have a small amount of ash, i just add it to the compost pile. I've also scattered it across the garden, but again, i only ever have a small amount from our outdoor fire pit.

 

[Nyboy]

I think ashes are good for acid loving plants.

 

[journey11]

Wood ash can raise the pH (make it more alkaline). If your soil tends to be too acidic anyway, this can be a good thing. It has fertilizer value in that it contains some potash and some other minerals. If you're careful to spread it out very well, most soils can benefit from some. We burn wood for all of our heat, so we have more ash than I can use really and most of it goes in a big pile on the back-40. I've found it does help condition my soil too, making it crumblier and easier to work (in addition to compost, manure, etc.). I don't know if I'd put a whole lot in the hole with a tomato though. That's the first time I've heard of that. I'd want to test my soil pH first and maybe work a little in if it was much below the 6.0--6.5 range.

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks for that Journey. I plan to get up to the extension office to get my soil tested so I think I'll wait to spread the ashes until I get the results from the soil testing.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Tomatoes love wood ash. We annually burn fallen logs in the spot were we plan to plant tomatoes the next season.

They also love compost that's not completely cooked.

I'm in the middle of a large area of swampland. So the alkalizing properties of the woodash is very helpful.