Wood Ash

In the Saturday Telegraph Gardening Section today there was a question about wood ash.  
Wood ash is a useful source of potash and also lime.  It is recommended that wood ash be put around fruit for the potash   Also it's good put around many plants and shrubs, whilst being careful to avoid acid-loving plants, such as pieris and azaleas.

a glorious pieris

However, it was suggested that if a great deal of wood ash is produced it might be better to put aside and add to the compost heap.  This would be especially useful in the summer when the ash can help wet compost, such as grass clippings, rot down better.


On GQT this week, Bob Flowerdew was quoted as suggesting that wood ash is good for gooseberries, which bears this out.

From the site: http://bobflowerdew.co.uk/

(I don't know how much he charges these days for his talks but many years ago (well about 15) he was asking £3,000 for an hour!  He must be good!)