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Is it harmful to have a fire where you want to plant?

I'm from New England were we had a massive freeze this past December. I had a dug a space for a garden in the fall, now is covered in branches. I was wondering if I did it the legal way, with a permit and all, would it hurt the soil for planting my garden this year if I had a fire there? The branches aren't what any one would want or could use.

Public Comments

1. If it's not a real hot fire you should be fine. Really intense fires burn up the organic material in the ground, and where I am, can actually harden the clay soil. A small fire is similar to what nature does routinely, though. You could always chip them and use them as mulch, too.
2. We burn all the time in the off season in our garden. The wood ash helps as long as it is not too much. Do not use any gas or oil or such to help the fire. The residue can affect your garden. Good luck.
3. Burning adds potash to the soil, so if your soil is not too alkaline it should not hurt. But, I have found if the fire gets very hot plants do not grow well in that spot. Burning over grass and weeds works well. But we burned a large pile of limbs in our pasture two years ago and the grass has just started growing back there. I would not burn limbs in my garden.
4. My very productive vegetable plot sits where I burned branches, and my neighbor burns branches every year where he plants veggies. We have alkaline clay soil. Just be sure you stick to branches; treated lumber or other items could leave heavy metals or other toxins, which can be taken up by plants.