Yes if it there is anything other than wood ash you are causing problems in the soil.

Even with wood ash, you will need to add extra compost, to keep the soil structure up to snuff. Coal or coke ash can actually contain toxic metals, which can be the very devil to remove when you discover their presence.

We have wood burning stoves, and regularly spread the ash on our clay-ey soil. It does make a bit of difference to the soil structure over time, but the nutrients get washed out pretty quickly. Coal and coke ash is a definite NO.

Oh dear, I got that wrong, Thanks always willing to learn

Also bear in mind that even wood ash should not be spread about liberally - best use is around non acid loving plants (ash will make the conditions more alkaline) which fruit or flower, applied in spring.

I usually spread a fair layer round our freshly weeded fruit trees, but then our soil IS quite alkaline.

Is pure wood ash, not just a weak form of pot ash, ie fertilizer, good for fruits and flowers? How does it make soil more alkaline, please? Tried to google this, but no luck so far about acidity levels.

Once all the cellulose in the wood is burned, Avkq47, what's left is a little silica powder, mixed with assorted metal oxides, mostly calcium and potassium oxides. When these combine with water and organic acids in the soil, they suck up a lot of the hydrogen ions, increasing the pH, sometimes signifigantly. The soil structure suffers when the metal ions stick the clay particles together more tightly--more of a problem when sodium and potassium ions outnumber calcium and magnesium ions.

And in response to your query re wood ash being good for flowers, Avkg47, that rather depends on the wood ash - which woods have been burnt to produce the ash, and whether the ash has been kept completely bone dry. At best, the potash content might be 7%, but that's rare,usually much lower, and as soon as its got wet, potash is gone. Much better to buy sulphate of potash if you really want potash to improve fruiting/flowering.

Thank you both. So ... generally, not a good idea for plants other than those preferring an alkaline base? Will smallish amounts in the compost be okay - about half a wheelbarrow every week?! How do I get rid of it?!!!

I preferred to just distribute it very lightly all over the garden whenever I had any, just to get rid of it, not for other purposes. But only if it was wood ash, not coal or coke.

That is the point, I think, not so much finding wood ash to help the soil, as what the H**l does one do with all the ash that 2 woodburning stoves produce, if one doesn't want to fill the dustbin with it?

In winter when we burn a combination of wood an anthracite on the stove we just have to accept it all has to go in the bin. When we are only burning wood Bulba collects the ash and uses as appropriate - so some still ends up in the bin!

Seems my beans may well be stunted next year.

Not if you feed with a nitrogen rich based feed. The ash will still help with the structure of the soil. Introduce as much manure/garden compost as you can, with ash. You can also add silver sand. Your local 'tip' may have soil conditioner available (£2 a bag). Dig over the area in lumps, throw in the compost, soil conditioner and silver sand, and if the siberian freeze being predicted arrives, the frost will get in and help to break it all up, then the worms will come up for the compost which will further break down the lumps for you.