Topic: fireplace ash uses ?

[superspud]

I have a coal fire, yep a regular coal fire, every winter we end up with a big pile of old ash frfom it, is it useable in the garden and if so what for ?

Spud

[Anisemary]

Don't know about the ashes, but if you grow sweet peas they love the soot in their trench when you have the chimney swept!

[tugboat]

last year a chimney sweep came round the allotments selling large bags of soot for a pound
each,never having used it before i bought a couple and then when i got home i researched it
on the internet and the summary seemed to be that if ashes and soot come from a wood
fire that is was ok to use but not from coal because of potential toxins.So not knowing the
actual type of soot i had i decided to put a small ridge of soot around my allotment to keep
the slugs out-did it work ? -it seemed to keep the slugs in!!- but one thing that i do is i burn
a lot of paper in an incinerator to produce paper ash which although a good source of potash
it is high in lime so it is good for brassicas,onions and some fruit-i hope this has been of assistance

[delboy]

Use it on paths and any rough roads within the site. Not much use otherwise. Toxins are us...

[landimad]

I remember my dad putting it around the rhubarb every year. It didn't seem to harm that or us.

[Vortex]

I believe the traditional use was for growing celery - cut a trench, part fill with ash, grow celery, fill trench as celery grows.

[superspud]

Well I like Celery a lot, so I will try that, if it doesn't work then I guess the binmen are going t get the hump again, last time we threw it in the bin and the lorry couldn't lift the bin ( the wife stuck it in not I) needless to say I got a stroppy letter !.

[davyw1]

The ash from the fire is of no use what so ever other than making paths.
Soot how ever is, providing it comes from natural coal not man made.
Soot not ash was put round celery to stop slugs, it sticks to the slug so it cant move.
It can also be put on the compost heap and as a mild tomato feed to give the tomato a deep red color

[Baccy Man]

I believe the traditional use was for growing celery - cut a trench, part fill with ash, grow celery, fill trench as celery grows.

I am positive that was the use for soot not ash, there is a big difference.

Coal ash contains high levels of heavy metals & toxic substances. This document shows what it typically found in coal ash & outlines some of the health implications of being exposed to those substances.
http://www.tectn.org/fckeditor/file/06-2009%20Coal%20Ash.pdf
Statements like this put me off the idea of using it on the plot, not even for paths between the beds.

In agriculture, one study found that crops grown in soil with a composition
weight of 5% to 20% coal fly ash showed toxic levels of arsenic.

If you burnt wood rather than coal then the ash would come in very useful in the garden.

[superspud]

Blimey Baccyman, thanks !, now I am wondering if I am gonna peg it from them diseases and if I have time to do any gardening left to me  :o .

Oh well.

[lincsyokel2]

The ash from the fire is of no use what so ever other than making paths.
Soot how ever is, providing it comes from natural coal not man made.
Soot not ash was put round celery to stop slugs, it sticks to the slug so it cant move.
It can also be put on the compost heap and as a mild tomato feed to give the tomato a deep red color

Wood ash is full of potassium  (which is why its called Potash) but its also highly alkaline.

In olden days you put the ash into a barrel and drip water through it, and you get a highly alkaline solution of Sodium and Pottasium Hydroxides known as Lye.  Boil that with the all the animal you have collected from the kitchen and its saponifies and you get soap floating on the top. This was how they made it before the Victorians came along.

[Psi (Pronounced 'Si'!)]

id have thought coal ash might be too harsh for the soil myself.