Light up your fire pit – then use the ash to help your garden grow
Four layers, woolly socks and insulated boots, and a blanket for later. Who would have thought we’d be celebrating the garden in winter like this, night after night? The air is sweet with the smell of rotting apples and damp earth, and here we are around the fire pit again.
In these fraught and isolating times, sitting around an open fire outside, letting the flames ignite our imaginations, feels important; we can get away from screens and reconnect with something ancient. Again, the garden offers a sanctuary, one I am well aware is a luxury that isn’t available to all. I do not take it for granted – nor waste its offerings: by the end of the night I have a good layer of ash that, once cooled, I sweep up and save in a bucket. This wood ash is a source of potash or potassium and is an invaluable fertiliser for the garden.