What to do with wood ashes?

10 Uses for Wood Ashes

Right to the garden. It’s the minerals the tree extracted over the years. Recycle it. Just don’t go overboard with them.

If you compost, throw them it in the compost.

My favourite, of course, from @Lightlyseared ‘s list is MAKE SOAP! But I like the tip of melting ice. For some reason my neighbours don’t throw gravel or anything on their side walk and we have to walk on it if we step foot out our door. It has a slight downward slope to the road and it becomes very dangerous for us and the kids. The garbage men decided one day it was too dangerous as well and just LEFT my garbage bins without emptying them. I was not impressed. Since then, I’ve been taking my good salt supply and throwing it down, but I’m going to try wood ash next time.

I dump them on my peonies. I also use them on icy flagstones or driveway aprons.

I add them to the compost.

Yep, it’s out to the garden with ours, too.

Compost pile for me as well….

Use as an ice melter. Adds grit and the darker color absorbs sun, aiding with melting. Will not harm concrete.

I have a friend who seriously puts her fireplace ashes in a plastic bag, puts them in a nice little biodegradable box and sells them online for $5/lb to people who want to use it in their compost. Nice way to make a little money on the side if you’ll be burning a ton of stuff.

I dump my wood ashes on the crushed stone driveway out to the barn. I also us it to fill in low spots in the woods. Make sure they are cool before you dispose of them. Many house fires were caused by ashes that were stored or disposed of improperly when they were still hot.

Congratulations on having all that ash. That means you are saving money . For every 20 pounds of wood you burned you saved about a gallon of heating oil. Nice.