ash as an ingredient of mulch?

[junee...@gmail.com]

  I have not started a forest food garden yet but want to ensure I keep anything useful to hand.

  As a youngster I was brought up to consider ash to be a good ingredient of compost, layered with leaves, manure, hair, peel etc. But I have not yet
spotted it mentioned in permaculture.

 I get ash from my petchka daily. Should I keep it to one side towards mulch for a future garden or spread it round the base of fruit trees as local people do?

 Thanks for any tips.

[Ilia Rashev]

Depends.
Ash is very variable in composition. We can assume that well preserved
Ash from broad leaf wood and good combustion is around 10%(by weight)
K (Potassium) and some other micro elements.

Ash is widely used for a Potassium fertilized and amendment for
improvement of the soil structure.
It is good in compost, it helps the decomposition process, but not
essential, it will just enrich the compost.

Because K is essential for blooming, it is natural that fruit trees
will benefit from ash supplementation.

However ash is inappropriately used by many. It is very easy to wash K
out of the ash. Ash exposed to rain or even to wind has almost no K
left in it. That is why it is important to preserve the ash in dry
plastic bags and when you spread it it should be worked into the soil
immediately.
Once in the soil, the K will bond with the soil and it will be long
lasting supply.
Usually K fertilization is applied once every 2-3 years in the autumn
with the pre-winter preparations of the soil (for perennials).

That being said, K is also very important for assimilation of N
(Nitrogen) by the plants. That is why it is very important to use
combined N+K fertilization. Vegetables are in whole N hungry plants.
That is why they will benefit from adequate fertilization with K also.

In the end, when you know the principles, your priorities should
guide you where to allocate your resource.

Good luck.

Илия (Живо село)

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[junee...@gmail.com]

Thanks so much Ilia for such an informative reply. I will stop strewing ash around the trees to get the nutrients washed or blown away and store it until
it can be worked into soil or added to compost.

The wood burned creating the ash is mostly from fallen branches at this time of year so is mixed. 

best wishes, J