Ashes and chunks of charcoal are packed with minerals. Plus its natural alkalinity and mildly abrasive texture make wood ash a workhorse around the home and garden. Discover genius uses for wood ash around the home & garden.
Safety First
It’s important to note that this list assumes you are burning clean wood and not chemically treated wood such as pressure treated, stained, or painted wood.
If you wouldn’t roast a hot dog over the fire it came from, you shouldn’t be using it around your house.
Hardwoods generally have more nutrients in them than softer woods like pine, but softwoods render softer ash than hardwoods.
Embers can stay hot for days. Make sure your wood ash is completely cool before using it around your home.
Wear gloves when working with wood ash as it can be caustic. Be extremely careful when creating or using lye from wood ash as it is also caustic and can cause severe burns.
1. Correct Acidic Soil
According to the Cooperative Extension at the University of California Davis, you can use those ashes to help balance the pH of acidic soil.
It’s best to test the pH of your soil first before applying, but generally speaking, the Cooperative Extension suggests for every 100 square feet you’ll apply 5-10 pounds of ash.
The best time to do this is before planting when you can till it directly into the soil. If you do apply your wood ash to soil with young plants already growing, be sure to rinse them down afterward as the ash can burn the tender leaves.
2. Boost Your Compost
To supercharge your compost heap throw in some ash, this boosts the nutrient-dense microbial environment that’s cooking in your compost.
Dave Dittmar over at Compost Junkie informs us that those little chunks of porous charcoal mixed in with the ashes provide your compost with much-needed oxygen making for very happy microbes.
The porous nature of charcoal also means all of those minerals from the ash are absorbed and kept into your compost instead of being leached out by rain.
3. Keep Bears Out of Your Compost
Ashley from Practical Self Reliance says that dusting your compost pile with wood ash keeps the bears from mistaking it for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Again, remember that wood ash is alkaline, so don’t add too much. Experiment with a trowel-full at a time and consider testing with a pH kit.
4. Stop Snails and Slugs in their Slimy Tracks
There is nothing more disappointing than coming out one day to find your cabbages looking like Battenberg lace.
Stop the slimy little creeps in their tracks by making a circle of ash around plants susceptible to snails and slugs.
I feel like a benevolent white witch casting a circle of protection spell around my precious shitake and oyster mushroom logs with the ashes provided by our woodstove in the shop. Though shalt not touch my mushrooms!
5. Bust Blossom End Rot
Seeing that first black splotch on the bottom of your gorgeous tomatoes is enough to bring anyone to tears because you know it’s just the beginning of more blossom end rot.
Head it off at the start of the season by giving susceptible plants an extra dose of calcium.
When you are planting tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and peppers; toss a small handful of wood ash into the hole before plunking your plant in the dirt.
Alternatively, try this brilliant homemade tomato fertilizer recipe that includes a generous dose of wood ash.
6. Put the Kibosh on Pond Algae
Give your aquatic plants the upper hand by feeding them potassium-rich wood ash. In turn, they will thrive, leaving the algae without the nutrients it needs to survive. Bye, Bye, algae bloom!
When it comes to using ashes in the pond, a little goes a long way. Off the Grid News advises using roughly one tablespoon per 1,000 gallons of water.
7. Fireplace Glass Cleaner
If you have glass doors on your fireplace or woodstove, they can become stained with creosote blocking your view of those beautiful dancing flames.
Dab a bit of the powdery ash on a damp sponge or cloth and use it to scrub the creosote away.
Wait for your woodstove or fireplace to cool down completely before cleaning the glass.
8. Glass Top Stove Cleaner
The same method can be used to clean your glass top stove. For stubborn, cooked on gunk, make a paste using the ash and a little water.
You’ll want to be sure there aren’t any charcoal pieces in your paste, so be sure you are using only the fine powdery ash.
9. Make Soap
This one almost seems obvious since it’s how we’ve been making soap since day one.
Here’s a great ‘How To’ for making soap using the ashes from your wood stove.
A word of caution: lye is caustic and can cause burns, be careful, and wear the proper personal protective equipment.
10. Keep Your Silver Shiny
I don’t know of anyone that enjoys polishing silver, but you can use wood ash to make the job a little easier.
You’ll want to make a thick paste using the fluffy white ash and some water.
Smear the paste on your silver item and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping it off.
Bye, bye tarnish; hello shiny!
Use a dab of ash on a felt cloth to buff your silver to a high sheen then rinse and dry well. You can also polish brass the same way.
11. Wood Ash Garnish
For your next dinner party, try a wood ash garnish. In some trendy restaurant’s chefs sprinkle a bit of ash on their creations to add a bit of smoky flavor and as a garnish that is pleasing to the eye.
While I love this idea, I would caution you to be certain that the wood you have burned is not chemically treated, painted, stained, etc. If you wouldn’t cook over a fire with that wood, then you certainly shouldn’t sprinkle the ash on your food.
12. Nixtamalization
Nixtamalization is the process of steeping corn in an alkaline solution. You can make this solution using wood ash and hot water. Native Americans used this process to make hominy, and some still do today. Further south in Mexico and Central America the same process is used to process corn for tortillas and tamales. There are plenty of tutorials on the web for the adventurous chef.