We put ashes from our wood stove in our garden. It might depend on what you burned in that fire. Would it have nails or other debris in it? If not you should be able to spread it around and work it in.
Veggie garden friends of Mid-Atlantic.
Mostly use the bonfire area for downed branches and trees that are too rotted for firewood. Occasionally have some construction debris in there, but I run a heavy duty magnet thru the ash pile to pull out any left over nails. The new vegetable bed will be 30' x 20'. I can dump ashes in there with a tractor bucket that is about 4 or 5 cubic feet - any idea on how many bucket loads would be enough but not too much? Terri
Terri,
Don't know everything about this topic, but here are some thoughts.....
Ashes are alkaline--a factor to consider....then again--most manures are a bit on the acid side. Might even it all out.....
If you have any Lilacs--sprinkle some around there...same if you have Boxwoods, maybe on your bulbs and on some Clematis as well.
Don't know enough about the veggies and ashes.....sorry....
Gita
High Potassium, magnesium, and calcium is good for tomatoes. Wood ash is high in potassium (potash) and Epsom salt is good for magnesium, and lime (dolomite is safest) is good for calcium. Two of these are alkaline. Since manure and compost tend to be acidic they often cancel one another. Ashes do bring some trace elements, but they can include arsenites if you burn pressure treated lumber ( also not a good idea to burn it for this reason ). In most cases, composted manure is acidic enough that I add a 4" pot of lime to a bushel when mixing it into soil. Your 4-5 cubic foot of ash should not be too much for your area. Hope this helps a bit. Ric
I agree, my vote is you won't have enough to hurt and it will be good. I would sprinkle it around all plantings except those you know like acid, and spread it over the veggie area. Last year for experiment I actually poured a couple cups of wet ash on the grass in a small pile to see if it would burn. Didn't seem to hurt a bit.
600 square feet times one inch deep equals 600 times 1/12 th = 50 cubic feet of ash to get an inch over all. (don't mind if somebody checks my math) That would be the most I'd feel comfortable doing. Do you really have a pile of fifty cubic feet of ash? That's like 15-25 bags of mulch.
Charcoal is better than powdery ash. darius did an article about it.
Thanks for the advice on the ashes. I haven't burned any pressure treated lumber, so I'm thinking I'll go ahead and use what I have. I went out and checked the size of the ash pile this evening - I probably have about 4 tractor bucket loads, which would roughly be 16 - 20 cubic feet. Maybe the better question to ask is ratio of parts that I should use for my soil mix - topsoil, composted manure (acidic), wood ash (potassium), epsom salt (magnesium), and lime (calcium). I'll probably just be growing tomatoes, peppers, onions, and herbs like basil, cilantro, chives... thanks, Terri
Terri--
Just pondering...........
Could ashes, maybe, be used to deter slugs and cutworms and grubs?
How about voles????? Everyone seems to have a problem witht that.....
g.
Terri- you sound pretty comitted, you should get a good soil test. Example, don't go nuts with magnesium, mine tested high in it already and too much can interfere with something else. My 'farm store' offers a free soil test but its very limited. Check with extension servie and see if they're still doing it. I think they have a list.
If not a test, then I would add plenty of manure or compost (I wouldn't buy topsoil unless I could look at it and make sure its very organic, otherwise it may just be filler. ) I'd add the ash, that sounds like s small enough proportion for your big area. And stop there unless you know otherwise. Composted manure will not be strongly acidic, just weak or neutral.
Got a neighbor to as--in our neighborhood everybody 'knows' we have to add lime. Our natural well water is very acidic, like 4
My crazy dog Jake is restless again and just woke me up for his midnight snack, business, and/or yard rounds - I'm never sure what it is he actually wants. Jordan, on the other hand, is sleeping like a rock. Jake has had me trained to get up in the middle of the night for years - at least now I have the latest at DG to check on while he satisfies whatever it is that makes him so restless! I know, I know - why is it that the dog trains me instead of vice versa, and why oh why can't he be like his sister :-)
In the lectures I've been going to lately, they keep mentioning that Virginia Tech does free soil tests. They even have little boxes to send the soil in. Sally, I'll go ahead and do that - should be interesting what they come up with. In the meantime, I'll just rototill in some topsoil (area where this new garden is going was pretty stripped, and need to raise the soil level a bit anyway), manure, and the wood ash. I'll amend with anything else that may be needed once I find out the results of the soil test. Again, thanks all for the advice... Terri
All interesting info, you've got me thinking more and more about vegetables this year! We have a planter on the sunny end of the deck that we just never get around to planting much in - use it mostly for cuttings of this and that. Thinking maybe we should plant vegetables this year - I could have a small kitchen garden! Does anyone have a favorite seed source?
Favorite vegetable seed source - critterologist LOL! All of my vegetable seeds came from the seed swap - mostly from critter, and a few from other DGers. As far as commercial sources, I started getting Burpees catalogs - I think they are a standard for vegetable seeds and it looks like they have a lot of variety to choose from. I'll be curious to see what the experienced DG vegetable growers recommend... Terri
LOL Terri's seed source..too true
Seed source- Pinetree is popular in part because their packets are smaller there fore cheaper but still plenty for a season or two for most people. Debbie, you might plant some pretty lettuce in there then stake up some cucumbers, or pepper plants are pretty attractive.
But for just a few packets you might have enough selection at a local store, then no shipping.
Find Pinetree at superseeds.com
Territorial is big, Johnny's too. Partly depends on how much selection you want
I think there was a Voting Booth about favorite catalogs or mail order places, there you could read a ton of comments.
Edit- I like Scheeper's too, see below from Gita
This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 10:19 AM
I recently received a catalog from "John Scheepers--Kitchen Garden Seeds".
It has nice descriptions and tutorials about everything pictured. Lots of herbs as well----
I would say this catalog is worth having just for all the information in it.
www.kitchengarenseeds.com
Phone: (860) 576-6086
Address;
23 Tulip Drive PO box 638
Bantam, CT 06750-0638
I ordered Daylilies from them last year, so now I get the catalog....
Gita
Hmmm...I just tried the link I posted and it took me to all the results from a Google search....
NOT what I thought!
Try--- www.johnscheepers.com
Maybe they will have a link to the Kitchen Garden Seeds from their main site????
This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 10:18 AM
I get most of my seeds from Pinetree http://www.superseeds.com and Baker Creek http://www.rareseeds.com
Baker Creek is pricey, but I only grow heirlooms and their selection is amazing (and this year's catalog is to die for).
Re: Ash in the garden-- I think most of this has already been covered, but I want to mention that wood ash is considered especially good for asparagus, so if you have asparagus beds, definitely give them a sprinkle. If you're using them in the garden, as Holly said, you probably won't add enough to significantly change the pH and they do contain some good stuff, but if you want to test just to be sure, vegetable garden pH should be between 6.5-7.0 for most plants.
Oh, Lettuce, I've never been a big lettuce grower but last year we had dinner at a friends house and she had a lot of different lettuces growing in her garden. Just before dinner was served we went down and cut our greens and picked a few things to go in the salad. Yummy!
Going to have to ask her if she remembers what she grew.
Tomorrow is the Garden Wise Seminar can't wait.
I've been laboring over taxes the past few days, so haven't been around. I'm loving those pictures from the flower show. Oh, if only I could get my garden to look like that. I guess it's snowing or sleeting or raining all over the Mid-Atlantic today and tomorrow, so I plan to catch up on reading the posts and looking at the pictures, and planting the tomatoe seeds Critter sent me. Yea!!
Thanks for those pictures, SallyG and HollyAnn and Critter and everyone who thinks of us at DG when they take these inspirational photographs.
This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 11:33 AM
Ughhh, don't mention taxes :( I thought I was doing good this year - basically got everything organized and ready back in January and here it is March already and I haven't even looked at them since :(
I'm beginning to get excited about the possibilities of a "kitchen garden" and I'll have to check out all your seed sources, thank you! A friend recommended Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, has anyone ever ordered from them? http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html
This is an old picture from September of 2000 when we were getting ready to bring a lot of plants inside for the winter. The boards on top were all nailed in place the next year to provide some shade but there's still plenty of sun! The deck planter is located behind the two chairs in the middle and I figured I could rig something up for vertical gardening (pole beans?) not to mention planting tomatoes, etc. in containers :)
I'm pretty positive I perused a purple podded pole pbean (the alliteration falls apart here!) in Pinetree, or Territorial, or Scheepers- look at some pole bean var's, I think there are purples that would be perky in your planter!
groan!
LOL, if I actually get it planted with anything, purple or not, I'll be happy :) I've always loved the Scarlet Runner Beans, had them for years in my Maine gardens, but then...I never ate the beans, just grew them because they were 'purty' :)
I've been spending the afternoon transplanting my tomato seedlings into 2" pots. I have six different varieties from critter's stash of seeds. Pretty close to 100% germination, so I have about 20 - 23 plants of each kind - approx 130 tomato plants. I'm thinking that will yield a heck of a lot of tomatoes!!! My dad has now gotten the urge to do a vegetable garden too, so half the plants will go up the hill to his house. I should get him down here to help me transplant - I'm only about 25% thru LOL.
Last evening we started researching deer fence options - I'm leaning towards a kit that will do a 100' perimeter. His garden will be twice that size, so he is leaning towards putting something together himself to save on the cost. I'm just thinking that a kit with everything in it will be much easier for me. Also, I have a sneaky suspicion that the fence roll that comes in the kit will hold up better than the wire mesh he is looking at. I think it is taller and stronger. I'd hate to put all this time into it and then end up just feeding the deer!
There was someone at the Seed Swap--Kim, I believe....who was trying to give away the latest issue of the catalog from "Backer Creek Heirloom Seeds". I took it.....
EVERYTHING in there is heirloom! Their location is MO.
Website given is: www.RARESEEDS.com
Amazing pictures and descriptions and stories....My kind of a catalog!
Gita
Re deer fencing, my DH put up a strand of electric fence a few feet off our regular garden fence - the one that keeps out rabbits but doesn't work well excluding turtles! With the current on, it catches the deer at the point where they would prepare to make their jump over the garden fence, and does a great job of deerproofing our veggies. For our freestanding flowerbeds we've tried the wireless deer fence - small battery-operated shockers on a plastic post stuck into the ground at wide intervals - and that seemed to help, too.
I have also seen people put up split rail fencing that's slanted so that the top is farther inward toward the enclosed area than the base; that's very hard for deer to negotiate because they get caught up by the top rungs when they leap, and I think they naturally avoid that sort of setup.
Hi guys ^_^ I saw you speaking about ashes, how about coffee grinds? I have a huge batch from Starbucks and I'm not sure where to scatter it.
I put coffee grinds in the compost pile all the time. Which end up in the veggie garden too. I hear worms love coffee grounds.
Yesterday I got out in the garden and started raking out some flower beds, Since I have lots of twigs, leaves and stems from last years plants, and 3 compost piles going, I decided to dump the rakings into the veg garden and burn it. When I'm done burning I'll rake the ashes to spred and level out the soil for planting.
I'm wondering how many of you plant peas on Saint Patrick's Day?
I don't have my garden ready by then and most likely the weather is not good to be out side as past years have shown.
I have used ashes as a slug deterrent with no idea how well it worked, damage did seem less, but it was also a dry year.
The soil test from the state extension offices are really nice. In Pa., you could pick a kit up at the ex. office for a few bucks. They included instructions and a mailer. They would return an easy to understand report, with instructions of what to use (such as lime), and how much.
Samples should be taken before you do any amendment, so as to get an understanding of what you have to start with.
A couple of natural deterrents for deer, if sprinkled every couple of days are blood meal and/or hair, they tend to avoid both. Blood meal is easy to find in the fertilizer areas of most gardening supplies. Hair can be gotten from a local barber/beauty shop. Don't forget dog hair, it's even better, if you happen to have a groomer nearby. Ric
We have found DeerAway to work best for as an odor-based deer deterrent. Seems better that Hinder. You only have to reapply it every month or two, which makes it even more convenient.
wind- spread coffee grounds anywhere. I consider it slightly fertile dirt.
ladyg- I have done some small burns too. Not 'supposed' to in this county but crapsake, people can use fireplaces and woodstoves...It takes five minutes to turn a pile of stems into ash/charcoal, versus the hassle of trying to bundle or bag them, truck picks them up, county runs a shredder, sits as mulch or gets landfilled...
Terri, I sowed tomato seeds on Thursday, and I started a couple that I thought might be nice firm ones to dice into salsa (you know how I wouldn't let you buy that overpriced $5 pack of seeds at the Burpee's display at the show, LOL)... Polish Linguisa (huge paste variety) and a little "fingerling" shaped paster that I don't have a name for. Most of my favorite tomatoes tend to be meaty ones with small seed cavities, so any that you got from me are probably good ones for canning & dicing! :-)
I don't know that I've come up with any great ideas for prettying up my veggie bed this year and still planting max numbers of tomatoes and peppers... but even putting some basil or beets in a front row section should help... and growing a rainbow of tomato and pepper colors has to count for something! LOL
Probably the one I'll try to pretty up a little more is the smaller bed just off the back patio (the one I keep referring to as a "future formal herb garden"... someday! ;-)
Sally, I don't usually burn, I have a chipper that hubby runs about 2 times a year, spring & fall when I get a pile of branches together. We don't have a burning ordinance in the borough, wish we had some better guidelines though, nothing like coming home from work, opening all the doors and windows, sitting down to dinner and have some dumb neighbor starting to burn their trash in the burn barrel.
When you start to burn, just get the kids together with sticks and a bag of marshmellows. " But, officer we were just going to toast some marshmellows and maybe some wennies, Care for some! "
Nothing pretty about my veggie garden either, it is the last bed I get to after all the flower beds get my full attention. I use a lot of newspaper and mulch/compost just so I don't have to weed very often. And I wind a soaker hose through the bed before I put down the newspaper & mulch/compost.
Hi, thanks...I still have the coffee grounds in the bag all wrapped up and waiting. I'll try and do something with them, maybe after church tomorrow. I still can't believe it is indoor seed planting time already. I'm moving slowly...saw my cousins greenhouse yesterday and want one just like his now....suffering from gardeners depression =/
I went to my first garden center of the season yesterday and another today, that is always exciting and uplifting ^_^ We picked up a flat of pansies and some other garden items. They had some nice vegetables available, but I want to get our seeds going, it saves $$$
I thought I was making progress, looking at all the different sites you've mentioned for seeds, getting a small list together - then I lost control and started looking at "flower" seeds :( Before I knew it I found a Lily named "Debbie", well... I've got to have that one don't I? Placed my order and haven't even bought vegetable seeds yet! Geez, cold, rainy weather gets me in trouble every time :)
Wind, I haven't seen pansies yet! I've looked for them on 206 but the last time I drove by the usual nurseries there were none out.
Debbie, that lily sounds like a perfect match for you. I mostly do veggies but I do love my zinnias!
Leslie
GG--
HD is loaded with pansies. 99cents for a 4" pot, I believe.
They've had them for quite a while already.
Too many things too early for sale--in my opinion.....push....push.....
G.
I'm finally done transplanting the tomato seedlings into 2" pots!!! I was out yesterday looking for some kind of water catch-all tray for each of the 4' shelves where the pots are under lights. I was just going to get the black nursery flats, but the width didn't span the entire width of the shelves - seemed like I would end up with wasted shelf space. I finally picked up cheap aluminum cake trays at Walmart - each holds 15 pots and 5 of the trays fit nicely on each shelf. Room for 375 pots under lights on 5 shelves and another 75 on the top shelf not under lights = 450 pots on this home made shelf unit. I'll keep seed germination going on the other unit I originally purchased from Gardener's Supply. My living room has been taken over - this is the most use it has gotten in years LOL!
One of the stops while I was out yesterday was Tractor Supply. I picked up a book called "Carrots Love Tomatoes". It is a handbook on companion planting - simple advice on plants that assist each other to grow well, plants that repel insects, even plants that repel other plants. Good easy reading for a novice like me - lots of info on how to lay out my vegetable garden and what else I should get to go along with the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and herbs that I want to try. I'll be playing with different design layouts on graph paper this afternoon. I find that I am enjoying all phases of gardening, but I have to admit that design ideas have always been one of my favorite parts... Terri
I was hoping for pearls of wisdom after my seminar yesterday. Sorry I don't have any ;{. The speaker was very good and interesting with beautiful pictures. One of the most interesting things was an arbor with tomatoes growing up and over it. There are determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. Indeterminate tomatoes don't stop growing at a specific height they just keep going and producing tomatoes as long as they grow. You can fill an arbor with them. His first picture was a beautiful garden (would love it if mine looked half as good) but everything was lined up in rows. He talked about planting in geometric designs, much like you see herb knot gardens or formal boxwood hedge with plants inside but you would use cabbage as the boxwood and lettuce or other plants inside the design. All very pretty. One of the things I really liked was how they planted onions scattered around the garden, reminded me of iris fronds sticking up in a flower bed. He had mixed flowers,some edible like nasturtiums and other plants like ornamental peppers to add color. The idea was to paint your Veggie garden with color and texture. Add height in a pleasing way much like you would your flower garden.
Terri, I ended up making a diagram of my garden, first in Appleworks and then in PhotoShop Elements, with rows, paths, the greenhouse and other features drawn to scale. I can print out a new copy and use it to plan my placements each spring, and then I have a record to help me with rotation the following years. I looked all over for a specific software application for that purpose, but I couldn't find anything, which is amazing.
I love the idea of a mixed veggie and flower garden! I usually interplant some of my vegetables with marigolds, basil and Victoria Blue salvia, but I imagine you could do a lot more than just those things. But don't you have to be careful with onions? I know peas and beans don't like them.
I did mix my pepper plants among the flowers last year, even had them growing in combo pots on the front porch and back deck. One year I had a compost pumpkin seed sprout in the front flower bed, it happly rambled among the flowers and sent up those big gorgeous yellow/orange flowers, the insects did not bother it like in the veg garden and hubby was careful to move the vine back into the garden so as not to cut it with the mower. I got 5 nice pie pumpkins from it that year.
I just sowed my pepper seeds today, 5 different verities, only a six pack of each. Have to save room for more flower seeding.
He mentioned to do this type of gardening needs a lot more planing. You need to think about what plants do and don't grow together. Also pest control if you use sprays you have to be careful not to spray on something that may drip on another plant like the lettuce you are cutting for dinner. Also harvesting will change the look of your design. and crop rotation needs a lot more thought. Overall this idea could be a lot more challenging. They showed pictures of some pretty big gardens designed this way. But I was thinking that if you want a small very attractive Veggie garden you could have something really unique.
terri- LOL on the use of living room, I am "there"
Holly- thx, I am going to plant my lettuce/ early greens right among my onion sets Makes sense!
ladyg- I'm tempted to put a pumpkin in the perennial bed on purpose. The squash bugs are so tuned in to my veg garden its nuts.