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Questions, Answers and Comments by Category
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Initial post
18 JUN 03 by
Unregistered Guest
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Is it ok to add ashes to the rose garden? We have a small fire bowl and I need to dipose of ashes.
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Ashes are fine for a rose garden provided they are not from anything other than wood. Just scattered them over the soil so the cover isn't thick.
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Ashes are very high in salt content. In soils that have a marginal salt level, ashes should be sent to the dump,not placed in the garden.
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Clean wood ashes were promoted as beneficial in the rose garden in the not too distant past.
Respected rose nurserymen, Hazlewood Bros (1910 - 1970s) had small pieces of advice running across the bottoms of the pages of their catalogues and here are some from the 1938 catalogue:
P31 Encouraging natural forces to control disease is an interesting science.
P55 Wood ashes make for better foliage
P65 Each rose should earn its place in your garden.
P74 Treat all Pernetianas to a liberal ration of wood ashes.
P75 Do not prune climbing sports when planting.
P76 The new orange shades often revert to their original colours.
In other places, clean wood ash is suggested as an agent to help strengthen resistance to fungal problems.
I've always put any wood ash lightly around the roses, rationing it out onto the ones that are most susceptible to mildew and blackspot and have never noticed any ill effect. The soil beneath the ashes is noticeably more friable after a while.
We have hungry sandy soil and no problems with salt.
The comment about salt was very interesting. Do you know what sorts of salts wood ash is high in, and whether this varies from one type of wood to another?
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Reply
#3 of 4 posted
4 JUL 08 by
m. quick
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I have a spot that was used for a fire pit and I9d like to plant roses in that location because of the sunlight. Can we use this soil or should it be removed and new soil added.
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