Burning 'green' wood & ash

When we had a coal fire I always kept the soot from the chimney for use on the garden. I used some mixed with soil when sowing carrots as it (so it was said) keeps away carrot fly. Some I put into hessian sacks and soaked in a bucket of water to make a high nitrogen liquid feed for veg.

All my bonfire ash gets saved and scattered around the fruit trees in late spring as it's high in potash.

 

At my last house, I had a leylandii hedge that needed constant pruning. Over a few weeks in summer I'd accumulate a massive pile of cuttings, and then wife and I would have one night beer drinking in the garden, while I did the incinerator bin to get rid of the pile of cuttings. Plus the bloke from next door used to take the opportunity to bring me his cuttings to get rid of too. I'd have the fire raging for hours, constantly topping up the bin. Yet by the time it had gone out, there'd be about 2 inches of ash in the bottom.

Sea coal is coal in its raw form, so will contain quite a lot of sulphur, so the ash from it will be acidic, but apart from that, and Zigs' concern about other metals, I'd say its fine for most things, in moderation.

 

Thought my sea coal was from an outcrop till I found a briquette in with it, might have come from a sunken coal barge.

Just hope my fire doesn't get possessed by the souls of the drowned sailors

 

You might be possessed by the Receiver of Wreck though Ziggy!

 

It's a shame you want to burn buddleja. It's apparently really nice wood to carve with / turn. You could always offer it to a local woodturner if you know one?

Or even failing that could you not stack the logs up in a corner to give our wildlife a helping hand?

 

You'll find the branches are hollow and if you cut some into lengths of about 12 cm and fasten them in a bundle it makes quite a nice natural insect hotel.

 

How thick are we talking? An inch or two? Turners can still make some decent things from that. I turned a mushroom from a piece of silver birch just over an inch thick (it's a bit crude but it was my first attempt). You could offer it on freecycle, if you're a member.

You have a lot of fences though? You could make some wildlife boxes and mount them to the wall like bird boxes. Drill a few holes into the ends that are cut to length and the insects will repay you over time.



Or you could just hammer them into the ground and drill some holes into them side ways for ladybirds to hibernate next winter?



Sorry to be so forceful on this one but in my opinion all wood is useful and has a second life in some form or another. Burning is a last resort.

 

I'm only passing on what a friend of mine told me recently who has turned the stuff. My buddlejas are quite young and I'm trying to keeping them well pruned every year. The smaller stems are hollow I do agree but I've seen wider trunks roughly 3' across cut down and not hollow (not from my plants though).

If they are hollow then that's an even more useful place for insects to hide out imo.

You could always build one and mount it to a stake in the ground. I image that won't upset your landlord.