Fall is kicking off with warm days and cool nights, and a fire pit on the patio is a fantastic way to enjoy an evening outdoors. While providing light and keeping you warm are key reasons for owning a fire pit, there are plenty of other uses. From cooking tasty pizza and chasing away pesky mosquitoes to making natural fertilizer, fire pits have all kinds of different uses.
Here are five great ways to use your fire pit that you may not have considered. You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for new reasons to light up a safe, satisfying bonfire. (For more on fire pits, you can read about the best way to clean one and how to save money when purchasing one.)
1. Repel mosquitoes
Pest control probably isn’t the first topic that comes to mind when you think of fire pits. That said, they can be a powerful tool for warding off one of the most unwelcome outdoor visitors: mosquitoes. Burning herbs happens to be an age-old technique for keeping the biting insects at bay. While smokeless fire pits aren’t going to have as much smoke to drive away these bugs, there are still going to make a difference.
Research now confirms that burning popular seasoning plants, specifically thyme, is particularly effective. One field study found that directly burning thyme leaves provides 85% to 89% protection from mosquitoes for up to 90 minutes. The next time the bugs are out in force, throw a few sprigs on the fire.
2. Cook over it
It may be obvious to barbecue lovers, but cooking food over a wood fire usually leads to delicious results. Chicken, fish and all kinds of red meat benefit from time spent over hot coals. A fire pit is no different. Two big names in the smokeless fire pit business already acknowledge this.
Smokeless fire pits are fantastic for cooking over, even pizzas.
Breeo sells its Outpost Grill kit that can function as a stand-alone campfire grill. You can also attach it to one of the company’s fire pits. Oh, not to mention the Breeo Live Fire Pizza Oven for that wood-fired pizza goodness. Is it ever delicious?
Fire pit-maker Solo Stove offers a range of cooking accessories for its fire pits, too. Aside from the Pi Fire for cooking pizzas with your solo stove, there are some additional cooking pieces to give your smokeless fire pit more utility. Solo Stove offers a cast iron grill top, griddle, and wok that all work with the Hub. Oh! Don’t forget the Campfire Popcorn, too.
3. Take it camping
Next time you go camping with your car or truck, consider bringing along a portable fire pit. There are pits built for travel in mind like the lightweight Solo Stove Ranger and collapsible Pop-Up Fire Pit. Some adventurous campers even bring the bigger Breeo Y Series pits into the woods. While not overly large, the Breeo Y Series has foldable, built-in legs to adjust the height and get the fire pit off the ground.
Consider taking your fire pit on your next camping trip.
No matter which brand you choose, the upside to using your own pit in the wild is big. It’s always at the ready. You also don’t need to rely on the condition, or lack thereof, of your particular campsite.
4. Make a Swedish torch
Deep in the heart of winter it’s a tough sell to spend quality time outdoors. Change that logic by lighting up a Swedish torch. This traditional fire building technique calls for stacking wood vertically inside your pit. It burns from the top down and from the center outwards.
These conditions create a fire that produces a lot more heat than standard fire pits. Since you add all the wood you can in the beginning, your pit will burn for quite a while with minimal intervention.
The Swedish torch method is a great way to stay warm outside when the weather is cold.
5. Reuse the ashes
When the fire has burned out and the pit has cooled, you may be tempted to dump the remnants in the trash. Think again, because fire pit ash is an excellent fertilizer.
Fire pits are more versatile than you might think.
Packed with potassium and other trace elements, a sprinkle of wood ash is a boon to plant health. Studies have shown that application of wood ash to soil aided plant growth and resistance to drought conditions. It only takes a little though. The experiments used a low ratio of 1% ash to soil. For a typical 10-inch diameter (2.5- to 3-gallon) garden pot, you’d need just under a half-ounce of ash.
Watch this: BioLite smart FirePit lets you control the fire
For more, here’s how to build a custom fire pit and how to plant a vegetable garden.