Fire pit and planting?

I have a very crude 'fire pit' an old roommate dug literally into the middle of the backyard, which is completely unsightly and that I wish to eliminate this spring. Can I plant over that after I fill it in and what should I use to fill it in with? I had someone tell me that the ground/earth is no longer going to be good for planting. Or would it be better to plunk a pond down since there is already the beginnings of a hole there?

Thanks!

I would plant into it after you fill it in with good compost and soil, although it is fair to say, only if it was organic matter you were burning in the pit, things like wood/logs or veg matter will be ideal as the ash from the wood is really good for the garden it enriches the soil too, but if you had plastics or anything else with chemical products, then dig out the first spade deep into the soil and then fill in as I mentioned before as that should get rid of the chemical reaction to plants, Good luck. WeeNel.

I have been burning LOTS of brush and now tons of leaves, so it is organic .... but the ash pile is getting deep. I have hauled a couple of bucketfuls away ( it is extremely heavy) but there is so much left. Can I sprinkle some around in the woods, or does it need to be dug in to the soil? Or will it hurt the soil?

Ok, thanks WeeNel! Seems I've got some digging to do since it was mainly organics, but she would on occasion burn other thing in there that I'd come home and find the "skeletons" of and have to pull out of the pit. Any suggestions for plants that would tolerate that sort of previous history well, or can I plant anything once the new soil is there? :)

Wood ash is really good for the soil, so I would perhaps mix the wood ash with any other soil you wish to use, I would think you could plant almost anything in this soil, just make sure you break up the soil at the bottom of the pit so you create good drainage, dont want you to end up with a paddling pool after all.

Julie, it wont hurt the soil in any way, if it is to a depth that you have no room to add a good load of soil/compost then yes, remove some, no you dont need to dig it into the soil unless you want to manure the earth using this good wood ash, if you lay it on the top soil then the rain etc will eventually take it down into the soil, but it can become very crumbly when the heat/sun gets to it so I always bury mine under the soil, BUT it is not essential, just a waist of good fertilizer for plants. good luck. WeeNel.

Thanks WeeNel! Will do as soon as I get some decent temps and non-frozen ground :P Hurry winter and end...I'm itching to start! :)

Never waste your winter dreaming about the weather, I use this time to look at all the garden catalogues, gardening landscape books and draw up plans and wish lists for the spring, it gives you time to plan out the work you have to do for the next season, the colours you want and even just the things I want to change in the garden that I was not too happy with last season, even if there is a slight frost, not deep into the soil, I sometimes go out with my garden fork and break up the soil that is bare and let the frost break it up some more, the frost then thawing helps to do that, it also makes you warm on a cold day when you just want to be outside. hope you have a good season next year, good luck. WeeNel.

i agree with wee nell, plants love the ashes. i had a burn pile where i piled and burned all my prunings last fall. this year tree seedlings have sprung up and are 3-4 ft high already.
i would say any toxics would have been burned off and redistributed anyway.

Great! Thank you both for the good news! :) I'll still have a lot of work to do, but I'm really relieved to know that I'll be able to have some nice workable soil not ash damage :)