If you have a wood stove, or burn your tree trimmings in spring, you may have a lot of wood ash.

Wood ash is a good source of potassium and other minerals that can benefit your garden plants. However, you should use precaution when applying wood ash to the garden. Excessive use may do harm to the fertility of your garden soil

Wood ash is very alkaline. It can raise the soil pH significantly. So before applying any wood ash to the soil, get a soil test. A pH of 6.5 is optimal for most veggies.

Only add wood ash to acid soils with a pH lower than 6.5 as well as low potassium level. Do not add more than 25 pounds of wood ash per 1,000 square feet each year.

Do a soil test again before you plan to add more wood ash next time.

Source: MotherEarthNews.com

Chemical fertilizers have been used to increase yields for many years in the U.S. and around the world. But more and more controversy has been raised in recent years.

Chemical fertilizers feed plants directly, bypassing and weakening the soil’s digestive system (worms, bacteria, etc). Eventually, the soil loses its ability to digest nutrition and becomes sterile.

Excessive chemical fertilizers applied can get into water systems and pollute our environment.

There is a significant amount of waste and energy expenditure associated with the production and transportation of chemical fertilizers.

On the other hand, organic fertilizers preserve and enrich the soil. They are slightly less effective in the short term since they need to be broken down by micro-organisms and earthworms before plants can utilize them. In the long run, however, they improve the overall health of the farmland or garden soil.

Organic fertilizers also save the energy that we now use to produce chemical fertilizers by allowing the soil’s digestive system to do its work.