Give Your Lilac Flowers A Nutrient Boost With A Common Household Throwaway

If you want to give your lilac bushes a little boost to help encourage large blooms and bright colors, all you have to do is take a look around your home and garden. Turns out, these flowers are pretty simple to take care of and do not require any fancy fertilizer to flourish. In fact, too much heavy fertilizer can actually have the opposite effect on your bushes, causing them to sprout new leaves rather than flower. You can get your lilac bush blooming with some common household staples, like Epsom salt or, if you have it available, wood ash. 

You should always keep your leftover wood ash from your fireplace or bonfire, as it can be a helpful soil additive. Wood ash, as you may expect, is the material leftover from burning wood, and it is made up of nutrients that are beneficial to many plants, not just lilacs. It contains potassium, sulfur, magnesium, and phosphorus. It also helps to neutralize the acidity of your soil, which is beneficial to lilacs as they prefer lower acidity. Note, however, that it's recommended to only use ash from wood that has been grown in natural environments — chemicals and additives could have a negative impact on both your plants and the surrounding environment.

Start by gathering wood ash from the fireplace in your home or your outdoor bonfire. Before applying ash to your lilacs, first make sure that it is completely cooled and that there are no large pieces of charcoal in the mix. Sprinkle the material around your lilac bushes, using about 1 to 2 quarts per plant. Make sure not to add too much, or you may give your lilacs nutrient deficiencies. While the addition of wood ash will most likely not assist in your current blooms, it will help to boost the soil for next year's flowers. This application can be done once a year, and you can add ash to your lilac bushes during the non-summer months. Make sure it's not a windy day, or your applied wood ash will simply blow away. When applying, you will want to wear protective clothing to avoid any skin or eye irritation. 

If you don't have any wood ash available to you, you can still use some basic household items to boost the growth of your lilac plants. Flowering shrubs, like lilacs, can benefit from a bit of Epsom salt in the garden, which can help increase magnesium levels in the soil. You can add about one cup of Epsom salt around the perimeter of your lilac bushes. Besides adding any soil boosters to your lilac plants, you'll also want to ensure that you are pruning them annually, removing older stems, and keeping their height in check. All of these things together will help keep your lilacs full, healthy, and colorful.