Hi from a 'blow in' living just outside Strokestown

Little Mo

We're in our 4th year in this lovely country but it's the 1st winter of burning turf. I grow flowers & have a veg patch. Does anyone know if spreading the ashes from the turf onto the soil is beneficial or harmful to plants Question

I have no enthusiastic gardeners around to ask. Mr. Green

Prudence · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject:

Hi Little Mo - from one 'blow in' to another (I'm in Castlerea, Co.Roscommon).

I don't know the answer to your question for sure, but I can't imagine there would be anything harmful in turf ash.

Welcome to the IG forum.

Sue

Little Mo · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject:

Thanks Sue. As the fires are burning brightly everynight now & the ash is mounting up, I'll give it a whirl. Mr. Green

GPI · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:17 am Post subject:

Welcome Little mo.
Your ash will free up potash in the soil for you flowering plants and it is also a good addition to the veg garden.
As with many queries on IG, there has been mention of your subject already. Have a look through this topic..... ashes in the garden.

sal · Hazel Tree Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 41

welcome from kerry,
Very Happy

Little Mo · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject:

Thanks GPI
I've just had a look at the topic suggested & it was more than helpful. It's good to know a bit more about gardening as up to now it's been trial & error! I'm just findng my way around the site, it's great so I hope the weather holds out for many more hours in the garden. Razz

Thanks also to Kerry for the welcome Very Happy

elphin · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:47 pm Post subject: hello from Elphin

Hello blow in from Strokestown from blow in from Elphin, we're amateurs but very enthusiastic. We live on the blackstick road so drop in sometime! You won't miss our garden, just before Kings estate house.
Re ashes.
I have found that a ring of ashes around my tender plants saves them from the slugs, so we put them around our perennial bed. Its a big messy when you are weeding or whatever but seems to work and have saved some of my plants.

walltoall

Welcome Little Mo. The previous advice of using the ashes as a slug barrier is the best use for turf ashes and pretty much the only one.

If you try to scatter them across the ground make sure the wind is blowing away from the house and away from your neighbour's washing. If you lay the dust down in a lump it will turn into cement and if you walk on it when it is wet , it is nearly impossible to get your boots clean. I had some years of turf fires when I lived in Offaly and the fire was only mighty but the ashes were a right nuisance. I'm afraid I have to disagree with the suggestion that turf ashes are a source of potash. They have the same as coal ashes and much the same chemistry!

BlackBird · Silver Birch Tree Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 171

walltoall · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: limey peat

Hi blackbird,
I've a problem here.

Are you saying that the ash of peat is or contains lime?

Surely any trace of calcium carbonate would be long gone from the peat as burned from the time the peat was in the bog? I understood that potash was fed into fields as the K in NPK and that the ash of recently deceased carboniferous fuel contained actual potassium whereas the ash of long dead fuels did not? I also understood that K enables seed production. Its nearly 50 years since I last saw a chemistry book and I may well be going senile.

Help!