"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 18:30:07 -0400, "kyrustic"
wrote:

I have access to tons of very old saw dust. Would it be ok to work this
into
my garden? What uses would it have


Yes. If the sawdust was left outside for a year, then it can be
worked into the soil without concern about robbing nitrogen. It makes
a good mulch for tender shallow rooted plants such as blueberries and
azaleas.

Sawdust doesn't rob the soil of nitrogen, sawdust just temporarily reduces
the amount of nitrogen compounds available to the plant. The bacteria and
various other microorganisms that consume the sawdust use the nitrogen in
the soil to live. When these various microorganisms die, they release the
nitrogen back into the soil.

You didn't say if you were going to use this around ornamental plants or
vegetables. Is there a concern that some of the sawdust is from pressure
treated wood? If so there are chemicals in there, that aren't desirable
around food plants.

Sameer