What to do with grass clippings and ash/coal from the wood fire?

As the title implies, I have no idea what to do with these things. We haven't had a garden or wood fire before so no idea what to do. DH cut our grass last weekend, and just threw the clippings onto the garden with the oragne and mandarin trees, but the grass was sooo long and the yards are huge here, so that garden is full now! But I don't really want to do that every time, what else can we do with it all? I haven't got a propper compost yet, but even if I did, it would be overflowing in no time!

Plus, we now have the wood fire. I have emptied it several times and just thrown the ash onto a part of the garden that is just dirt, wet it all then mixed it with the soil. But will that ruin the soil? Though I'm not sure what sort of soil we have, and I'm yet to strat planting anything.....

Anyone got ideas or info about what these things will do to the soil and plants?

We put all our clippings on the compost heap. If you now your lawn once a week there isn't as much clippings as what there would be if you left it grow longer. I remember as a little girl that my Nan has this big garden bed full of chysanthamums and she would always spread the ash from the fire over the garden bed. I had no idea why she did it at the time, but a while ago I read that you can use it because it acts as a liming agent. So if you have acidic soil, spreading ash is very beneficial but you will need to check the PH levels of your garden soil first.

Ohh, thanks Trillian, that was the sort of info I wanted re: the ash! I will have to get a ph kit from the garden place...

:bump:

So does anyone else have any ideas??

we have a mulching mower, so there is no catcher and all the clippings get cut up fine and then left on the lawn. i love it! definitely worth it if you have a big lawn.

You don’t have to have a bought or purpose built compost system. If you just choose one spot (maybe in the corner at the back) and put the grass clippings in a pile, that will work just fine as a compost. The pile will dramatically reduce in size and then you just add more clippings on top next time you mow. Eventually, after a year or so you can turn the pile upside-down and get all the composed clippings out from the bottom and use them on the garden. The problem with putting fresh lawn clippings on the garden is that they often contain lots of weed seeds which then sprout amongst the plants. HTH :D

Also, contrary to popular belief, not good to feed to livestock - the oil upsets their tummies.

With your fire, is it an open fire or a combustion heater? If it's a combustion heater, the coals will burn down to ash, which is easier to get rid of (and smaller).

It's a combustion fire, and while the mulching mower sounds great, we have an old run of the mill mower, which sadly doesn't have a catcher, lol! Just means more exercise for us, lol! I have chosen a spot in the garden to dump vege peelings and stuff for now, though I do want to make a better compost area, not a commercial one, just something I can knock up myself (that should be interesting...!).