"Beauty for Ashes"

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified ." ~ Isaiah 61:3

If you have heard the phrase, perhaps you realize where I am headed with this post. Ashes.....how I love ashes. If you study the soil's ph (level of acidity versus alkalinity), you will realize ashes are an integral part of cultivating beauty in a garden.

Here is our process. We pick up fallen limbs. We chop up fallen trees. We gather pruned limbs of branches that have died on a tree. I remove any nails, metal ect. from the burn pile. The dead, dry trees are burned. After the ashes are cooled, it is time to wheel the wheel barrel over and fill it with the ashes. If they are too light, I mist the ashes so they don't blow in the wind. I add this layer to the middle of the layering process. For the past two years, this method has brought greener leaves to my plants.