journey11
Garden Master
I don't know much of the science behind it, but here is what amounts to my personal experience using wood ashes on the garden:
We have red clay mud here, very dense. If you take up a spade full from about 8 to 10 inches down and run your finger across it, it is very nearly pure and consistent, as if you'd bought it to spin pottery from!
We heat exclusively with wood and having lots of ashes, I always spread them out across the garden each winter as this is the easiest way to dispose of them.
It has been my experience that the ashes do a great job of breaking up the red clay. It seems to obliterate it. When I turn the soil in the spring, it has a very light and friable texture to it, rather than slick, compacted mud. This also allows me to till a little sooner than our clay soil would otherwise allow.
You have to use wood ashes fresh in order to get the benefit of the potash in them. Potash leaches out very easily and if you decided to pile them and after several rains dig them back up to use them, you would have none left in it as it would have run off into the soil below. That is why I apply them directly. I have never had to amend for the potash content of my soil.
However, all things in moderation, you would not want to use the wood ashes exclusively. I also add in composted manure, compost and ag lime, as well as other things like bone meal as needed. The heavy organic humus from the compost and manure do alot to improve the soil texture, so I would not attribute it entirely to the ashes.
The ashes seem to powder the clay, and alone would not be ideal, I am sure. It makes it so that the clay has a very hard time readhering to itself, which as was said, probably has something to do with molecular bonds.
I would, from my experience, encourage the use of wood ash, as long as you use it as part of a well-rounded approach. My gardens just get better year after year and I have not noticed any adverse effect from the application of wood ash. Of course, my knowledge and experience grow year after year too, in addition to the cummulative effect of a good composting program, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it as well!
As for your cedar, you might even want to think outside the box (or outside the garden, as the case may be). My dad salvaged a giant eastern red cedar from my neighbor's yard when they had it cut down and he had the logs made into a full sized bed entirely made of cedar. With the bark removed, it has the most wonderfully random patterns etched into it from wood borers and the knots and ends show off that beautiful burgandy center that cedar is known for.
For your shorter pieces you might consider making endtables and plant stands for your indoor or outdoor furniture, as your decor allows! Or have it cut into planks or round slices and make accent shelves. Just the thought! I am envious!
We have red clay mud here, very dense. If you take up a spade full from about 8 to 10 inches down and run your finger across it, it is very nearly pure and consistent, as if you'd bought it to spin pottery from!
We heat exclusively with wood and having lots of ashes, I always spread them out across the garden each winter as this is the easiest way to dispose of them.
It has been my experience that the ashes do a great job of breaking up the red clay. It seems to obliterate it. When I turn the soil in the spring, it has a very light and friable texture to it, rather than slick, compacted mud. This also allows me to till a little sooner than our clay soil would otherwise allow.
You have to use wood ashes fresh in order to get the benefit of the potash in them. Potash leaches out very easily and if you decided to pile them and after several rains dig them back up to use them, you would have none left in it as it would have run off into the soil below. That is why I apply them directly. I have never had to amend for the potash content of my soil.
However, all things in moderation, you would not want to use the wood ashes exclusively. I also add in composted manure, compost and ag lime, as well as other things like bone meal as needed. The heavy organic humus from the compost and manure do alot to improve the soil texture, so I would not attribute it entirely to the ashes.
The ashes seem to powder the clay, and alone would not be ideal, I am sure. It makes it so that the clay has a very hard time readhering to itself, which as was said, probably has something to do with molecular bonds.
I would, from my experience, encourage the use of wood ash, as long as you use it as part of a well-rounded approach. My gardens just get better year after year and I have not noticed any adverse effect from the application of wood ash. Of course, my knowledge and experience grow year after year too, in addition to the cummulative effect of a good composting program, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it as well!
As for your cedar, you might even want to think outside the box (or outside the garden, as the case may be). My dad salvaged a giant eastern red cedar from my neighbor's yard when they had it cut down and he had the logs made into a full sized bed entirely made of cedar. With the bark removed, it has the most wonderfully random patterns etched into it from wood borers and the knots and ends show off that beautiful burgandy center that cedar is known for.
For your shorter pieces you might consider making endtables and plant stands for your indoor or outdoor furniture, as your decor allows! Or have it cut into planks or round slices and make accent shelves. Just the thought! I am envious!
