If you have a wood-burning stove, you will have plenty of wood ash.  You may not know this, but wood ash has many uses…

1.  Use wood ash to add nutrients (potash and calcium carbonate) to your compost.

2.  Deter snails from plants by spreading the ash around the base of the plant.

3.  Add nutrients to planting holes for tomatoes by tipping half a cup to each hole.

4.  You can clean your stove’s glass doors, simply add the ash to a damp sponge and add some elbow grease.

5.  Wood ash can be used in soap making – if you soak the ashes in water you make lye, which is used in the soap making process.

6.   Clean metal by making a thick paste with the ash and scrubbing the metal.

7.   Dust bath for chickens, this will kill lice and mites.

8.   Remove sticky labels from glass jars – make a paste with water and get scrubbing.

9.   Wood ash can be used as a top dressing around onions, leeks and garlic.

10. Lastly, wood ash raises the Ph of soil, this can be used as an alternative to lime.