Just because December is almost over, doesn’t mean you can’t be gardening. It might be a little more difficult for those of us in chillier climates to actually be planting or growing right now, but we can still make arrangements for the coming season. I’m not talking about plot planning, or seed ordering / inventory – not yet anyway. I’m talking about the leftovers from a cozy night in.

What’s better than spending a cold, windy, snowy night inside, than to curl up on the couch with a nice fire? I honesty can’t think of many things I’d rather do on such a night. But the fun doesn’t have to end there. When it inevitably comes time to clean our that fireplace full of wood ash, don’t just throw it away…

Scoop up all that wonderful dust, and head on outside:

I’m sure one bucket of ash might not seem like a lot, but all your garden really needs is a light dusting. That one bucket was enough to coat most of my front garden:

I’ll do this a couple of times throughout the winter, and I try to hit as many of my gardens as I can, while my supplies of ash are plentiful. But sometimes it just ends up in the compost pile if I’m pressed for time. Either way, it’s much more useful this way than ending up in a landfill. The usual use for wood ash it to boost a soil’s Potassium levels. Now, I’ve never done any soil testing in my gardens (although I’d like to) but even so: growing plants need potassium, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll overdose a plant with a dusting of wood ash the winter before.

When you find ways to re-purpose things you’d normally be throwing away, you can wind up saving quite a bit of money. In this case, it’s fertilizer I won’t need to buy. Be creative, and who knows what you might think of!

Until next time, Happy Dusting!