With sawdust being a big by-product of logging and firewood, The Firewood Company investigates the wonderful array of things you can use for sawdust around your home and property.
When it comes to preparing wood for fireplaces and burning, sawdust is by far one of the biggest by-products. Also commonly referred to as wood dust, this waste product is caused by sawing, sanding, grinding milling, routing, cutting, drilling, or planing wood. It is the fine wood chips that are left from manipulating any form of wood. Commonly collected by firewood operations, woodworking machinery power tools, and even hand tools.
Greener Gardens
It’s no surprise to many green-thumb enthusiasts that gardens benefit hugely from sawdust. With a high concentrate of carbon to nitrogen ratio care does need to be taken, as it can temporarily deplete the soil of nitrogen. However, mixing your sawdust with a good quality fertiliser or animal manure can ensure it does not deplete the soil that will affect your plant growth and health. It can help immensely with keeping your plants healthy and the soil moist. But care does need to be taken with nitrogen additions so your plants do not suffer.
Adding sawdust to vegetable patches – particularly those that do not have good soil content mixing a small amount of sawdust can help with nutrients over time. But be sure to ensure your soil has adequate nitrogen added. As the bacteria used to break down the sawdust will feed on the nitrogen and will deplete your garden. With some vegetables loving nitrogen – think – pac choi, lettuce, spinach, and kale. While other vegetables do not like too much nitrogen such as cucumber, carrots, and parsnip.
But the most wonderful aspect of using sawdust in the garden is weeds! Putting sawdust around plants and using it as a mulch is not only far cheaper, but it will also keep those pesky weeds at bay. It can also help protect your plants from the loss of moisture and keep roots nice and cool during the hot months of summer. Again, like your vegetables, ensure you feed your garden with a good nitrogen-based fertiliser to keep them green and healthy.
#TopTip - sweep sawdust into all those annoying cracks in pathways that tend to fill with grass and weeds. The fine sawdust can become a semi-permanent weed and grass deterrent.
Sawdust is also perfect for creating paths through your garden or vegetable patches. As it repels weeds, it will also be great for an easy-to-maintain pathway. Consider compacting the sawdust into dirt walkways, not only will it smell great, but it can also look sensational.
What Can I use Sawdust For?
There are plenty of ways to utilise your sawdust beside the garden. If there is any left over after you have tended to your yards and walkways, consider using it for arts and crafts for the children – painted white with a splash of glue it makes great fake snow! Other ideas include:
Preventing weeds in the garden – super weed killer.
Adding moisture to plants – can help soils retain moisture.
Soak up spills in the garage – wonderfully absorbent and perfect for oil spills.
DIY firelighters – melt old candles and pour over packed sawdust in muffin molds or old egg cartons.
Think pets – great for horse stables, dog runs also make great natural kitty litter!
Get traction – sawdust is great for traction particularly on icy surfaces during winter.
Arts & crafts – fake snow, plus it creates wonderful texture when mixed with paint.
With a little creativity and understanding how valuable this by-product is, not only for your gardens but your general maintenance of your home, you can utilise your sawdust very effectively.