leave it to weather for at least the winter then spred thinly over the garden, a number of times through the year.

Thanks. I'll have to store it in a paper sack so that I can return the bucket!

Wood ash contains potash, so it is good for flowering plants and especially good for strawberries. Slugs and snails don't like it. However, it is not very pretty.

Here on Exmoor many people have wood burning stoves. Each morning when I clean mine out I spread the resulting ash on the garden. This has been the practice for many years. The ashes disappear within a few days and the potash does the plants a lot of good and improves the soil.

I clean out our woodburner about once a week and immediatly spread the ash, thinly, on the veggie plot. I also keep some in a sack for use with my home made potting compost mixes.

I spread my ash liberally under the fruit trees, they are quite hungry for potash. It soon disperses into the ground after a good rain.

I use wood ash as soon as i get it too. sprinkle lightly on the soil and let the rain etc wash it in. soot is left to weather for about a year not that i get much now we have central heating.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll store it in a paper sack until the spring, I don't think it would be much use putting it on the ground now, all this rain would wash it all away!
I would like to know if anyone makes their own compost mixes for seeds, potting on, tubs, mature plants etc and what 'recipes' they use. I have two large compost bins at home, I emptied one in September spending two or three days riddling it and filling old compost sacks. I was planning to make a leafmold 'bin' too but didn't get round to it, I gather leafmold is perfect for seed sowing as seeds don't need a rich compost to germinate, they have everything they need for that. But after that I guess potash would be useful in compost mixes but in what ratios? Any ideas?

Well BL I make my own compost ideally to use for seedlings etc but I dont seem to be able to generate enough heat in my bins to kill off all the weed seeds so I just use it for more established plants where I can clean the weeds out more easily. I fill all my tubs and troughs with it as well as using it as a winter mulch over my borders. I decided it was more time effective to buy a prepared seed compost.
To all other GOYers, how do you get your bins to generate enough heat. I layer my ingredients, keep them moist but not wet, yet well ventilated.

I don't really layer mine Janpled.....I suppose things get added in layers depending on what I'm doing in the garden at the time but I mix everything together as much as I can. Every couple of weeks or even more often in the summer, I'll go out and give the bins a bit of a stir. They get hot enough to be uncomfortable leaving your hand in contact with the middle for more than 30 seconds.

Thank you for all this lovely information , it is a question that I was going to ask as we have had a new woodburner this last year and wasn't sure how much to use on the garden ..... we have read several conflicting articals about it ... ........