{"id":19734,"date":"2023-01-26T08:38:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/?p=19734"},"modified":"2025-04-28T14:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T18:05:09","slug":"using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Wood Ash Good for the Garden? Find Out Here"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">WOOD ASHES: GOOD IDEA OR A BAD IDEA?<\/h2>\n<p>Quick answer to the question above is\u2014GOOD IDEA, but to use IN MODERATION.<\/p>\n<p>Like with most everything, knowledge is key in doing it right and with success. After that cold spell over the holidays, many used their fireplaces and wood stoves to keep warm. As a result, they created wood ashes that need to be cleaned out and disposed of.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I think you want to know before using wood ashes in your gardens:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wood ash can be a valuable source of certain nutrients and can also be used to modify soil pH.<\/li>\n<li>Carbonates found in wood ash react with and neutralize acid in the soil, causing the soil pH to increase. These levels of carbonate will vary depending on the type of wood burned. In a perfect world, it would always be best to test the soil pH before spreading ashes. If this test reveals that your soil pH is 6.5 to 7.0 or more, then I would not recommend adding wood ash. Too high a pH can lock up nutrients for your plants.<\/li>\n<li>Calcium is the plant nutrient most commonly found in wood, as well as Potassium. On a more minor scale, you can find Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Sulfur in wood ash.<\/li>\n<li>Lawns needing lime and potassium benefit from wood ash\u201410 to 15 pounds of wood ash per 1,000 square feet.<\/li>\n<li>Do NOT spread ashes around acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, hollies, blueberries, etc. These plants would suffer and not perform with a soil pH too high.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope you find this information helpful as we continue going through winter. I think a good gardening resolution for 2023 is for all of us to be kinder to our environment and find ways to become more sustainable and reuse what we can. Ask yourself, \u201cCan I do something with this?\u201d When it comes to wood ash, it has several useful benefits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>HAPPY GARDENING IN 2023!!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/\">To read more posts from Doug, visit our blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/hours-locations\/big-great-greenhouse-in-richmond-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Return to the Great Big Greenhouse homepage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WOOD ASHES: GOOD IDEA OR A BAD IDEA? Quick answer to the question above is\u2014GOOD IDEA, but to use IN MODERATION. Like with most everything, knowledge is key in doing it right and with success. After that cold spell over the holidays, many used their fireplaces and wood stoves to keep warm. As a result, &#8230; <a title=\"Is Wood Ash Good for the Garden? Find Out Here\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/\" aria-label=\"More on Is Wood Ash Good for the Garden? Find Out Here\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gardening-with-doug","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Using Wood Ash in the Garden: Benefits &amp; Tips<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover if wood ash is good for the garden, how it affects soil pH, and the best ways to use it for healthy plant growth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using Wood Ash in the Garden: Benefits &amp; Tips\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover if wood ash is good for the garden, how it affects soil pH, and the best ways to use it for healthy plant growth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Great Big Greenhouse Gardening Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-26T13:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-28T18:05:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/doug-blog-wood-ashes.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doug Hensel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/using-wood-ashes-in-our-gardens\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doug Hensel\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f1db21ab44d4f970330937ce32072893\"},\"headline\":\"Is Wood Ash Good for the Garden? 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