what do you give back to your veg patch

[headgroundsman]

Woodchip not completely composted would deplete nitrogen from the ground so be careful not to mix with soil unless properly composted. Once composted it makes a fantastic soil conditioner.

[John in Scotland]

think I read that saw chippings should go through compost heap first as it robs nitrogen.

[Lee Winger]

Here in the UK we were still putting raw sewage on the land in 1999/2000, or there abouts.

 

I had a feeling we were, I used to use a dump site at Anglian Water, I remember liquid from digester tanks being emptied into lorry tankers, I also remember when they wanted to mix the remaining sludge cake with compost, they used to test a lot for ecoli and other harmful pathogens.

[daltontrees]

i don't see why ash should be used sparingly on a veg patch as volcanoes are some of the most fertile places on earth and they're not short of ash in those soils...

 

Different sort of ash from volcanoes, it is fine rock mineral particles with a very high surface area to volume ration that give out useful elements like soduim, potassium, magnesium, iron etc. readily. Wood ash is fairly caustic, the elements usually being in a form that is ready to react with just about anything. They can be toxic to bacteria, worms, insects and can create pH levels that are phytotoxic (i.e. kill plants).

 

Use sparingly. I empty my stove into a bucket and every now and then sieve it and chuck out the lumps. The fine powder can be dusted on the soil surface just before rain is expected. I probably use about 1 kg per m2 a year.

[Lee Winger]

Volcanic soil is one of the most fertile you'll get

[pete23]

Here in the UK we were still putting raw sewage on the land in 1999/2000, or there abouts.

 

still are round these parts, local/ish farmers paying a tenner a ton, that's spread aswell.

I assume it must be treated sh#te

[eggsarascal]

still are round these parts, local/ish farmers paying a tenner a ton, that's spread aswell.

I assume it must be treated sh#te

 

It will be treated sludge. If it's not compliant it won't go out of the sewage works and go to land. Not that raw sewage doesn't got out of sewage works from time to time.

 

Sorry, waste water treatment plants, not sewage works.

[Tom D]

Wood ash contains highly soluble potash, which will make your soil alkaline, potatoes don't like this and will become much more susceptible to scab, potash stimulates flowering in plants so its good to use on crops where the flowers, seed, fruit are the desired goal, on crops where foliage is desired a high nitrogen diet is better.

 

So for cabbages and other left greens lots of nitrogen. For tomatoes lots of potash. I like to let my tomato plants get big on the nitrogen rich manure that I have dug in and then drench them with watered in wood ash to stimulate flowering.

 

The potash in wood ash is highly soluble so it needs to be stored in the dry, out doors the rain will soon wash it away.