bonfire in the garden?

[mater-head]

Last spring I cut down a cedar tree that was next to my garden. Now that its dry enough to burn, would it be a bad thing to burn it up in the garden area? Would this help or hurt the soil?

Thanks

ooops, I should add that I plan on planting my garden in about 4 weeks. I havnt tilled anything up yet.

[salix]

Hmm, would the ashes act like the charcoal for your own "terra preta" (a good thing) or would the natural cedar oil residue cause a problem? Is it a very large tree (lots of residue) or smallish? Can the ash be raked into one area only? Is there enough actual wood to be useful for firewood or carving? Sorry, not much help, am I?

[eddie46]

I have been told a hot fire kills the soil. It is sterilized and takes time to come back.

Ed

[mater-head]

Well I guess I'll pass on the fire in the garden. better safe than sorry :-)

[Barbee]

We used fire for the lettuce beds and beet beds and such for years. It kills the weed seeds. Then we'd come back in and plant our lettuce and beet beds.
Then we switched over to methyl bromine or whatever it's called and gassed them because it was much easier. Now that's not an option so we were planning to burn a lettuce patch earlier on this spring. But it rained too much and we missed our window.
I'd not be as concerned about the burning, but I don't know about it being a cedar. They do put out a funky residue.
But your sinuses would be nice and clear I bet

[mater-head]

I was planning on setting anything of any size off to the side and just burn up the small branches. The last thing I wanna do is mess up the soil tho! Thanks :-)

[newatthiskat]

We built our house and I believe they burned the trees on my garden spot. The pH was way off. Way too alkaline. Has taken me three years to get something good to grow there. Lots of amending and such. Still don't see earthworms. I know mine is excessive but with all the problems I have had I am glad you have decided to not do it
Kat