Ashes in the driveway

[Bushmans]

I've been dumping my ashes in the driveway most of the winter. So much ice and snow! It helps quite a bit. Right now it's so bad that when I back into the turn around I can't go anywhere. I have to put in 4x4 just to get turned around in the drive. Ashes make a big difference!
Of course I had a major leak in my downstairs toilet (daughters bathroom) and with her having the door shut all the time I never noticed it. Apparently the guy we bought the house from installed a floating vinyl floor. (never seen one) and the wax ring was leaking but it was pushing all the water under the floating vinyl. Well it spread through the whole bathroom and started soaking into the drywall and long story short I had to pretty much gut the bathroom today. Lot of mold hiding behind the baseboard trim. There was an entire built in closet that had to be removed and all the chunks of 2x4s went into the stove. Now I have to remember not to throw this ash clean out into the driveway because it's full of nails.
And of course it is snowing AGAIN! 2-4" tonight.

Anyone else dump in the drive? Mine is gravel so I don't worry about any mess!

 

[Circle B MN]

As long as there are no nails, ash in the drive is fine except come mud season it's black nasty mud you're tracking in. I just dump it all in a spot behind the barn myself.

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Never did that but I might try soon. I've been having too many close calls lately almost busting my ass on the ice!

 

[dave_376]

I also dump some ash in the driveway.some get spread on the lawn and some goes into the garden. I keep a magnet next to the stove and use it when I am cleaning out after burning wood that may have nails. Ash does add some traction and helps melt the ice. I also have a gravel driveway.

 

[Cheesecutter]

Yup use them all the time. They turn dark and attract the suns heat to melt the ice evn when its cold. I mix mine with sandblast sand I get from an auto-body shop and that works even better. I save anything with nails until late in the burning season, then magnet/sift the nails and sell them as scrap.

 

[Iska3]

I'm with MNGuns, No ashes on my driveway. That nasty stuff gets on your tires and in to the parking spot, soon it's on your shoes and in to your car and house. I'll use the ashes on my lawn, the garden and in the road ditch to help kill the underbrush. I'll use the sawdust from the chainsaw or the noodles for traction. In the spring they'll float to the top of the water and freeze in over night. Easy to clean up if they get in to the house. Burned Coal or the cinders make for good traction but ashes from burned wood???? I'd rather buy a few bags of sand. That black muck will get to be nasty..

As long as there are no nails, ash in the drive is fine except come mud season it's black nasty mud you're tracking in. I just dump it all in a spot behind the barn myself.

 

[Cheesecutter]

I guess it would be messy if you had a blacktop or concrete driveway. I have 700 feet of gravel so I don't really notice.

 

[bobt]

For me in this winter of winters, I have resorted to slinging the ash pan from the wood furnace over the snow banks deposited by the road crews. I hope the melting will be hurried by this. Cant hurt.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

All of my wood ashs goes into my gardens, GREAT stuff!

SR

 

[Cpjlube]

I have been using wood ashes on ice since I was a kid. It's amazing how the little ashes you need to make glare ice walkable. Of course gravel driveways are much kinder to making the "muck" go away.

 

[Ronaldo]

Ashes work great to give automobiles traction on ice and packed snow, too. I carry some in a cat litter bucket in the back of the truck and they have helped me out of some bad stuck situations. We also use them for helping get better traction for the tractors when on ice(side benefit is they help to attract sunlight and melt ice, as has been mentioned).

 

[ponyexpress976]

Using them on the driveway as well this year. I've got a decent slope so they run off pretty quick during the melt off.

 

[CTYank]

Works best for me to spread some ash before the snow. And ... they're much easier on trees with roots underneath.

No shortage this winter.

 

[johnnylabguy]

Can someone tell me what in the ashes is good for your garden? I've done it a little but I don't even know what the benefit is! I know it doesn't grow giant pumpkins well because my brothers beat me every year!

 

[chuckwood]

Can someone tell me what in the ashes is good for your garden? I've done it a little but I don't even know what the benefit is! I know it doesn't grow giant pumpkins well because my brothers beat me every year!

Tree roots go down very deep, and take minerals out of the ground and into the wood. The minerals are still there in the wood ashes, the primary one being potassium, commonly known as potash. This is all stuff that plants need. My garden soil tends to get too acidic from all the composted leaves I put in it, and wood ashes help sweeten it up. Today, I went over to a friends house and removed their entire ash pile. They run two wood heaters on two separate chimneys, and I got a very nice load. I spread it all on the garden area, and plowed it in this evening. If you garden repeatedly on one spot, the soil there will need too be replenished with fresh ingredients. Wood ashes are a good source, along with composted organic stuff.

 

[windthrown]

Can someone tell me what in the ashes is good for your garden? I've done it a little but I don't even know what the benefit is! I know it doesn't grow giant pumpkins well because my brothers beat me every year!

Potash... wood ash is high in potassium. Good for the garden, just do not use too much. Ah, I see that someone else beat me to answering your post.

Anyway, I have been using wood ashes on my trees, garden and driveway here for years. Not only do the ashes help with traction on my 3/4 minus driveway in the snow, but they add fines to help keep the driveway from developing potholes. I use a magnet to pull all the screws and nails out of the ashes and I screen out the coals and fused ash lumps with hardware cloth nailed to a wood frame. There is no potassium deficiency on my property.

 

[turnkey4099]

As long as there are no nails, ash in the drive is fine except come mud season it's black nasty mud you're tracking in. I just dump it all in a spot behind the barn myself.

For sure: I don't dump ashes anywhere I will walk, they all go on the lawn and disappear with the first rain or snow melt.

Harry K

 

[buggyspapa]

I wish I hadn't dumped ash all the fall in a fill location. Now, with up to two inches of ice from house to driveway, and driveway (all gravel) up to three inches, every pan I fill goes to keep me from falling on my a.. getting to the car, garbage cans, etc. Like someone said, it helps melt the ice by absorbing heat. If I don't step in it before it has had a chance to melt in (when it is stuck), I don't notice much tracking in the the house.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

i dump mine in the garden. stove ash makes the soil a little fluffy here

 

[alleyyooper]

I mostly use a drop spreader to spread my ashes on the drive way and walks where it is slick. Of course where we walk the ashes are swept off with a big barn broom so there is none left that tracks in but it did it's job of making the area less slick. I always spread the ashes in the gardens when they are not needed to reduce the slickness of the drive way and walk ways.
This year seemed I was always running out of cool ashes to spread so I got a galvanized garbage can I store them in so I have them when needed. When spring has sprung and the grass is greening up they will get spread on the gardens again.

I even do where the mail carrier drives to do my mail.





Al