Wood ash

[Brenjon]

Can I put liberal amounts of wood ash around all fruit bearing plants and flowering plants now?
Regards Brenjon

[Gracie]

Hi Brenjon,I usually put wood ash around fruit in early spring, but i can't see any reason not to put it around now, I'm pretty sure it won't do any harm. we have a plentyful supply from our logburner, so I also spread it on the veg garden before rotavating.
best wishes gracie.

[Mike Vogel]

For future reference, Brenjon, it's also recommended for garlic, especially when applied in February around autumn-planted cloves.

mike

[retropants]

I can vouch for that, i dug mine up on Sunday, and it is freaking massive!!! It had 2 doses of woodash in the spring!

[Mike Vogel]

Wow, that's early! Mine hasn't bagun to "go over" yet, but some of the Rocambole and Elephant Garlic has been forming a seed-head. I've chopped these off the latter, to conserve energy for the bulb, but the Rocambole goes all twisty [it's also called "serpentine garlic" and I'll leave some to do that.

I remember in previous years digging the earlier stuff about now, but this year it has been rather wet and they've kept vigorous for longer.

The expert advice is better to dig it up too early than too late.

mike

[retropants]

I suppose I could have left it longer, but it had been in since oct/nov, and I needed the space for broccoli. Also, as it has been raining so much, I didn't want a repeat of last years harvest. So, like you say, better early than late! I did trim the flower heads off as they appeared too.
The soft neck (hope I got it the right way round) is looking good too, but I'll leave that maybe another 3-4 weeks before digging it up.