The only source of heat in our house is our wood stove. This means we burn a lot of wood and produce a lot of ashes throughout a long, cold Montana winter. I’ve been thinking about ways we can use our ashes instead of just disposing them in the trash after they cool off. Last year I read an article about using wood stove ashes to make lye, which can be used to make soap. This is on our to-do list this winter!
But what other uses are there for ashes? Can they be used in a garden? Can they be composted? I’ve been so busy filling orders in our Etsy shop that I haven’t had much free time to research things like this. Then I was perusing last week’s edition of Green Thumb Thursday and this post caught my eye and I had to pick it for this week’s Featured Post:
Garden Tips A to Z: Ashes from Katie’s Farm.
I immediately clicked on it and read some great tips on using ashes. The best thing I learned? They work great as a barrier around plants to keep slugs away. Last year at our old house, the slug problem was out of control. I moved a lot of the perennial plants and bushes to our new homestead this fall and worried I may be bringing some of those pests along. Well if I did, now I know an easy way to protect my plants from them!
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Are you ready for this week’s edition of Green Thumb Thursday? I’m excited to see all the wonderful gardening posts shared this week!
The co-hosts of this weekly Green Thumb Thursday link up are:
- The Homestead Bloggers Network
- Untrained Housewife
- Northern Homestead
- Homestead Lady
- Montana Homesteader
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Thanks so much for featuring my post on using ashes in the garden!! I am so happy you enjoyed my post and can use some of the tips. Using ashes as a slug deterrent came from my great-grandmother who used them in her garden at her rustic upstate New York cottage (think outhouse and bathing in the rain). Best wishes for a wonderful (slug-free) garden this year! – Katie
I love that the tip came from your great grandmother! I’m HOPING we don’t have slug issues this year, but if we do I’m definitely trying this out!