Re-purposing Wood Ash

March 10, 2015

Re-purposing Wood Ash for Compost

With winter winding down, many of us will begin to clean out our fireplaces and wood-burning stoves of wood ash. But, hang on a minute… before you pitch it, you may want to use it!

That’s right, for hundreds of years, ash has been used for various household chores, including gardening. And it turns out that wood ash is a great additive for the compost pile. Be careful not to over-do it. You just want to dust the compost lightly, mixing it into the pile. (Note: Because wood ash is alkaline, do not use it if you have high alkaline soil. Wood ash works best with acidic soils.)

For other ways to use wood ash, consider this tip to increase the health of your tomato plants: Just sprinkle 1/8 of a cup of ash in the hole prior to planting tomato plants, and it will give your tomatoes a boost. And to help minimize garden pests, wood ash is good for repelling snails and slugs

As for cleaning around the house, wood ash mixed into a paste with water is great for polishing silver. And if Rover has an unfortunate encounter with a skunk, wood ash makes an effective de-skunking odor eliminator.

Additionally, if you reside in a part of the country where snow has remained well into March, wood ash makes a good de-icer, and can help to provide additional traction for your car tires in the snow.

And here you were gonna just toss it out!