Dumping Charcoal in my Garden

David Hammond wrote:Question: is ash the same as charcoal? I don't think it is. I was putting basically chunks of uncombusted hardwood charcoal into the garden.

I would assume that ash is different than charcoal (and yes, I'm talking about hardwood charcoal, not any nasty briquettes). What I use is a mix of partially burned charcoal and ash. I usually use whatever is in the bottom of my WSM after a cook. Obviously, with the amount of BBQing and grilling that I do it's not practical to dump my dregs into the garden every time. If I did that, I would have soil consisting of 98% charcoal and ash. I usually dump a batch into the soil in the spring and then again sometime around July. I feel that it not only replenishes the soil, but it also serves to aerate it a bit. I'm not sure whether or not it adds anything to the crop, but, as you know, my garden is usually quite prolific, so I don't think it's doing any harm, either.

I am not a Master Gardener, nor do I play one on the internet, so take this advice as you will, since it seems to go against the soil science present here.