Wood chips are an easy and affordable way to give your garden a boost. They're commonly used as mulch to suppress weeds, improve water retention, and reduce soil erosion. Beyond mulch, wood chips ...

Decomposing wood mulch enriches the soil. Rock and bark mulches do not. Their purpose is primarily to add beauty and reduce weed problems. Any wood mulch, not bark mulch, works well around fruit ...

Real Estate News Wood ash from fireplaces can enrich garden soil. Here’s how. Wood ash contains calcium, magnesium, and potassium among a dozen or more important nutrients.

Adapting this plan for building garden soil by using a wood mulch — such as wood chips, sawdust or other woody residues — is a strategy that promises huge, long-term returns.

However, archeologists have found that ancient Amazonian cropland contains large deposits of dark, rich soil called Terra Preta that was made by these ancient farmers between 2,500 to 4,000 years ago.

As a fertilizer, wood ash potash (K) runs about 7% to 10%. Phosphorus is about 1 1/2 %. Nitrogen, another major nutrient, is released as a gas during combustion so it is no longer present in ashes.

The tall delphinium hybrids shown here at a Royal Horticultural Society trial garden in England are coveted by gardeners around the world because the flowers can be intensely blue, a rare shade in ...

But if applied improperly, the ash can be caustic.

Lawns needing lime and potassium benefit from wood ash — 10 to 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet, Perry said. “This is the amount you may get from one cord of firewood,” he said.

To insulate the roots of your plants, add a 2—to 3-inch layer over the soil. Compost. Wood chips are carbon-rich, making them a great material to use in compost.