By Chessloser
United Kingdom 
I have long been in the habit of putting ash from the house fire on my vegetable garden. The fire burns wood only. I have now started using anthracite smokeless fuel in a woodburner and was wondering whether the ash from that is safe, or even beneficial, to put on the veg' garden. It has quite an acrid smell and I am worried that it may be harmful to do so. Many thanks, Andrew (Perthshire)
20 Jan, 2011
Answers
Only use is for footpaths as it will stop weeds growing for quite a while.
20 Jan, 2011
Hi Andrew... Chessloser ..
I don't know much about ash, but welcome to GoY, and thanks for giving me a laugh with the most amusing avatar name I've seen for a while :o)
20 Jan, 2011
We operate a similar system to you, Andrew. During autumn and spring we light our stove on a daily basis, as needed, and burn wood only. The ash from this goes on the garden. During winter we add anthracite to keep the stove in 24/7 and during this period the ash goes in the bin.
21 Jan, 2011
You're right to worry - wood ash is fine, coal or coke ash isn't, so don't put it anywhere on the soil.
20 Jan, 2011