[slowcompost]

i had fires with coal and wood and mixed the ashes together and sieved out the lumps of leftover coal and spread it on my garden, it wasnt a heavy amount of it but now im reading its a bad idea, did i just do a lot of damage to my soil???

[James Kilkelly]

The third post in this thread doesn't have much good to say about coal ashes.... ashes on soil
Have you got a garden vac or some way of removing the ashes before it it washed in?

[Ruby]

We have been speading ashes for years - directly in some areas or mixed with compost - and find it fantastic for our heavy soil.

[medieval knievel]

coal ash contains heavy metals and other things you wouldn't want in your soil, especially if you're growing food in the soil.

[forest flame]

we burn logs and briquettes and i put the ashes in the compost bin.
is this a bad idea?

[medieval knievel]

the ashes won't add anything to the compost process - there's nothing to break down, so you're as well off adding it to the completed product or sprinkling it on the beds.

can't say i like using turf in the fire, though. too many questions about sustainability, and not enough heat. lovely smell, though.

[tunnelsofhens10]

I burn turf all year round in the Range, great for heating, cooking and lots of hot water, I agree about sustainability, but we draw from a small plot maintained and with no threat to local wildlife. Unlike Bord na Mona. Anyway turf ash should be good for the soil, right? Definitly Wrong! Thank God I only threw it around my rose bushes and not on my Veg patch, Result? All roses dead as a doornail. Lesson? Be like the P.O.W.s digging the escape tunnel, walk around the nearest field and dribble to the ground!

[Belfast]

Coal ash from smokeless coal can kill plants.