hi and welcome
you can sprinkle the wood ash onto your garden in a fine dusting. it will help improve the nutient levels of your soil. Can you compost the pine needles? if not brn them and then sprinkle the ash.

What's an Indian basket? And in my experience, if you set light to pine needles, the spit and spark all over the place...

Pine needles are slightly acidic. They could be used as a mulch. I like them where they fall under the trees, because it would be difficult to grow anything under these trees and they look quite nice I think.

Wood ash is good for flowering plants particularly because it contains potash. I use it on the herbaceous border or around the strawberry plants. Now this does not look attractive, so using with the compost is also a good option.

Thanks, I can compost but they take ages, weather too hot and dry.I don´t mind them either where they fall but there are so many and it gets so deep so quickly, so maybe burn and sprinkle best? Good for citrus or other fruits ? ( of which I have many) Have been tentativley sprinkling around lavenders, winter & summer jasmine.
I use them over the paper and under the wood kindling for starting my fire ( in stove so no problems with sparks) and better than those smelly firelighters, but in summer ´..
The north american indians made all sorts of baskets with pine needles and the Americans sell the needles baled for mulching- which needs a bit o kit though and the first option a load of free time...and cast iron fingers.

I'm finding it impossible to imagine how on earth you'd make a basket with pine needles! And it must be really prickly work;-)

Tis indeed- I searched for something to do with pineneedles and up it came a lady still weaving them- you have to gather them whilst still a bit supple,obviously the indians had the same problem as me!

Heather- I didn´t mention that with the fire risk here in the summer neighbours over the years have endeavored to keep their ground free of any growth with the use of Round Up and continual raking and relief to the eye with a few specimen plants/shrubs in between the trees. My area is fairly closely covered and the drive alone is thickly carpeted in a month. I would prefer ground cover planting but everything just gets buried in needles apart from the ugly stuff which still manages to spurt through. I have these huge mounds everywhere and burning must be done extremely carefully and no way between early May and mid october.

What a trouble that must be - over here, we get piles of needles - but they're nearly always soggy and damp!

for pineneedles read porkupine quils

If your compost heap plus pine needles gets too dry, why not just soak it now and then.