One of the things you may have chosen to do with your old Christmas tree, or any tree for that matter, is to cut it up and use it as firewood to help heat your home. But what about the waste ash? Well actually, there are many uses for wood ash around the garden, which go far beyond throwing it into a compost bin.
The garden benefits of wood ash and how to use it
1. A natural soil pH adjuster
Wood ash is naturally alkaline. Adding it to a garden bed will increase the pH of the soil too. This is useful if you want to change a neutral pH soil to one that is more alkaline so plants like Lavender and Honeysuckle can thrive.
2. Repel slugs and other garden pests
In spring, slugs and other pests can be bad for young plants. Besides using coffee grounds, putting wood ash in your garden can also help keep away pests like slugs and snails.
The dry and abrasive texture of wood ash is unpleasant for them to crawl over, so they avoid it completely. To deter the pests, all you have to do is sprinkle a layer of wood ash in a ring either around the border of the soil bed or even around the plants themselves.
3. A natural fertiliser
Probably the most familiar use of wood ash for gardeners is as a natural fertiliser for plants. The high levels of potassium found in wood ash are especially helpful for fruiting plants like pear trees and raspberry canes.
This is because potassium is essential for flower and fruit development. A healthy boost of wood ash applied every few weeks from spring through summer is all that’s needed to give plants all the potassium they need.
There are other benefits to potassium in the garden too:
- Increases root growth
- Improves drought resistance
- Reduces water loss and wilting
- Prevents energy losses
- Increases a plant’s protein content
4. Helps melt icy walkways
If your garden has walkways or paths, you can spread wood ash on the walkways in winter to help make them safe if they have become icey. Wood ash helps make walkways safer in two ways:
- It darkens the area, helping it to absorb more heat from the sun, which in turn melts the ice and snow
- The gritty nature of wood ash helps to provide traction on slippery, icy surfaces, much like traditional grit would
5. Dust baths for poultry
If you happen to keep poultry in your garden, then there’s an extra use for wood ash. Leaving dust baths of wood ash around the garden, preferably under some shelter like under a hedge or in a chicken coop, can be used by poultry to dust their feathers.
Feather dusting is done by chickens and other poultry to control parasites and keep their feathers in top condition. In other words, dust baths of wood ash around your garden help keep your birds healthy.
One last thing
Now that you know how to use your wood ash around the garden, it’s important to know the source.
Wood that has been treated with wood stain, painted, or has any other chemicals on it from perhaps old fencing posts or decking boards, can be burned at home but you shouldn’t use the ash in your garden. The ash will still contain traces of the chemicals, which can be harmful to the environment.
Instead, only use ash that you know has come from wood that hasn’t been treated with anything, like a felled tree or cut branches after pruning.
Of course, there are more garden benefits to waste wood than wood ash. Have a read of our blog to see more ways you can use old wood around the garden.