I try to avoid bonfires, but recently friends brought up large non-native evergreen material which my beetle bank wouldn’t have rotted down for many years.
Yesterday evening was perfect for a burn: copious rain the previous night thus no runaway fire risk, folk & roots music on the radio (Radio Wales Celtic Heartbeat); so – one match, some dry grass, and We Have Ignition!
As there was a risk of overnight rain washing away all the potash, I had to get the residue round the fruit trees immediately: while the fire burnt down I positioned quenching water supplies and then started shovelling & shifting the still-glowing embers (N.B. don’t try this with a plastic-bodied barrow). At the destination – spread fast, quench, and for that moment when one’s world is nothing but hot vapour clouds, relish that heavenly steam loco shed aroma!
Three apple trees got the treatment; and here’s the important point: by carting the residue straight away I ended up with a considerable quantity of biochar – captured carbon which will gradually crumble and help improve the soil. Whereas had I left the hot embers overnight, they would have burnt out to ash.
