Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?

Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan
underneath that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that
may be useful, so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a
good source of potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow
cherries, blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and
beans. Where would be the best place to spread my ashes?

Wood ash is a source of potassium, that is where the name comes from, it was
first isolated from pot ash. It is also highly alkaline so unless your soil
is too acid for the crops you are growing it would not be a good idea. In
any case spread it thinly and water it in as you don't want to shock your
soil microorganisms with a rapid pH change.

If your soil doesn't need liming you might be able to spread it in your
compost heap as they can be fairly acid but it all depends on quantity.

D

On 5/07/2014 10:18 AM, Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?


Do you mean real charcoal or the sort ash that comes from the heat beads
that are used in a Weber?

I save the ashes from my winter fires in the house and use them in most
areas of the garden in the late winter, early Spring after shaking them
through a garden sieve. I save the big lumps of carbon to pound up and
use in my veggie beds.

I never use the ashes from the heat beads used in the Weber. They get
taken to the tip.

Fran Farmer wrote:
On 5/07/2014 10:18 AM, Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?


Do you mean real charcoal or the sort ash that comes from the heat beads
that are used in a Weber?

I save the ashes from my winter fires in the house and use them in most
areas of the garden in the late winter, early Spring after shaking them
through a garden sieve. I save the big lumps of carbon to pound up and
use in my veggie beds.

I never use the ashes from the heat beads used in the Weber. They get
taken to the tip.

Heat beads is a new term to me. I'm in the US. We buy a bag of
charcoal made by Kingsford. They appear to be molded, as they all have
the same shape. We have a Latino grocer near us and sometimes we buy
Kingsford Mesquite charcoal there. A nearby hardware store sells bags
of chunk charcoal, but the chunks are too large for my grill.

On 7/5/2014 12:07 PM, Not@home wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:
On 5/07/2014 10:18 AM, Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?


Do you mean real charcoal or the sort ash that comes from the heat beads
that are used in a Weber?

I save the ashes from my winter fires in the house and use them in most
areas of the garden in the late winter, early Spring after shaking them
through a garden sieve. I save the big lumps of carbon to pound up and
use in my veggie beds.

I never use the ashes from the heat beads used in the Weber. They get
taken to the tip.

Heat beads is a new term to me. I'm in the US. We buy a bag of charcoal
made by Kingsford. They appear to be molded, as they all have the same
shape. We have a Latino grocer near us and sometimes we buy Kingsford
Mesquite charcoal there. A nearby hardware store sells bags of chunk
charcoal, but the chunks are too large for my grill.

Personally, I would never consider using the residue from charcoal
briquettes, no matter what the source. Their contents are a veritable
witch's brew of extraneous, non-wood sources including flue scrapings from
industrial processes. If you were burning _real_ charcoal made from wood
the story would be different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsford_%28charcoal%29

On Sat, 05 Jul 2014 12:07:00 -0400, "Not@home" wrote:

Fran Farmer wrote:
On 5/07/2014 10:18 AM, Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?


Do you mean real charcoal or the sort ash that comes from the heat beads
that are used in a Weber?

I save the ashes from my winter fires in the house and use them in most
areas of the garden in the late winter, early Spring after shaking them
through a garden sieve. I save the big lumps of carbon to pound up and
use in my veggie beds.

I never use the ashes from the heat beads used in the Weber. They get
taken to the tip.

Heat beads is a new term to me. I'm in the US. We buy a bag of
charcoal made by Kingsford. They appear to be molded, as they all have
the same shape. We have a Latino grocer near us and sometimes we buy
Kingsford Mesquite charcoal there. A nearby hardware store sells bags
of chunk charcoal, but the chunks are too large for my grill.

The "molded" (briquettes) are a pollutant... they pollute your food
and your invironment, including your soil should you choose to bury
the ash. Besides various binders briquettes contain a petroleum
accelerant. I would toss briquette ash in the trash, there won't be
much anyway, a large bag of briquettes will yield less than a cup of
wet ash... mostly you'll end up with a lot of pieces of unburned
briquettes, plus the fat drippings from cooked meats, whatever
additives used to make briquettes, and creosote.

On 6/07/2014 2:07 AM, Not@home wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:
On 5/07/2014 10:18 AM, Not@home wrote:
Zone 5 with soil rich with humus.

I have a new charcoal grill and one of the features is a pan underneath
that collects the ashes. I hate to waste something that may be useful,
so I did some reading and found that the ashes are a good source of
potassium, which may be useful in the garden. We grow cherries,
blueberries, and strawberries, corn, beets, tomatoes, and beans. Where
would be the best place to spread my ashes?


Do you mean real charcoal or the sort ash that comes from the heat beads
that are used in a Weber?

I save the ashes from my winter fires in the house and use them in most
areas of the garden in the late winter, early Spring after shaking them
through a garden sieve. I save the big lumps of carbon to pound up and
use in my veggie beds.

I never use the ashes from the heat beads used in the Weber. They get
taken to the tip.

Heat beads is a new term to me. I'm in the US. We buy a bag of
charcoal made by Kingsford.

Never heard of Kingsford.
They appear to be molded, as they all have
the same shape.

If they are all the same shape they are probably the sort that is used
in a Weber and known here as heat bead or briquettes. Real charcoal
varies in shape.

I wouldn't use the ash from anything that is uniform in shape and looks
'manufactured' as opposed to various sized real charcoal made in the old
way by excluding oxygen during the burn.

We have a Latino grocer near us and sometimes we buy
Kingsford Mesquite charcoal there. A nearby hardware store sells bags
of chunk charcoal, but the chunks are too large for my grill.