Gardeners, prepare thy soil! As I've said in previous columns, wintertime is prime time for getting the garden prepared for the new growing season. And one of the first things you should do as early as possible is determine whether your yard and garden need to be limed. A soil test will tell you for sure, so contacting the Soil Testing Office of the state Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services' Agronomic Division for a free sample testing could TCOB (take care of business). Check out the division's Web site at agronomy.agr.state.nc.us for more information.

If you haven't limed your growing grounds in at least two years, it is pretty safe to assume that an application of lime now would help. The clay soils in this region are naturally acidic, as are most of the fertilizers that are applied to them. Adding acid to acid lowers the pH in the soil, which can eventually adversely affect plants.

Commercial lime can cure the acidic condition, but it takes its own sweet time to do it. An application now will just be starting to change the soil's acidity by the time spring planting season begins. There is an alkaline substance that works quicker than commercial lime, and it is free for the taking. Smell smoke? Where there's smoke, there's most likely fire -- whether it's in your fireplace or wood stove or maybe even your neighbor's or relative's -- and that's where you'll find the soil conditioner: wood ash.

Wood ash, left over from many a cozy winter fires, is very alkaline. It can raise the pH of your soil, and that's good for growing.

Wood ash beats commercial lime hands down for adding nutrients to the soil. Typical wood ash contains about 1.5 percent phosphorus and 7 percent potassium, as well as traces of many important micronutrients such as magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, boron, copper, zinc and manganese.

This analysis varies depending on the type of wood you use in the fireplace or wood stove. What you burn will also determine how safe the ash is to use on your plants. Ash from burned Styrofoam or vinyl disco records (if you still had any hanging around) is not recommended for spreading on the lawn or in the garden -- too many strange chemicals!

Burning colored newspaper used to be a no-no, too, because of the lead content, but most printers have switched to lead-free inks. So if you have been using the funnies as fire starters, the ash should be safe.

Don't overload

Using too much wood ash can be harmful to plants. Generally, an application of 20 to 25 pounds for each 1,000 square feet on the lawn or 5 pounds for each 100 square feet in the garden is sufficient.

Wood ash has at least one problem, though. The potassium in it is easily leached away by excessive moisture, so don't rely on wood ash as your only source of this important nutrient. Apply a complete commercial fertilizer in addition to the wood ash.

One final word of caution: Wait at least three days after a fire to use wood ash. Coals can stay red-hot long after the fire has died. Give the ash a chance to cool completely so an application will result in a healthier lawn and garden rather than a three-alarm fire!

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