Maybe I should have waited until Ash Wednesday (February 18) to write about this but I would probably have forgotten by then, especially as for weeks, every time I empty the wood ash from my woodburner, I keep meaning to tell you about the ways it can be used in the garden.

My granddad always added it to the compost heap and sprinkled it directly onto veggie beds and the flower borders to be dug in later on in the spring. Added to the soil, the ash from your woodburner acts as a lime substitute, helping to neutralise acidic soils and enriching the soil with essential nutrients. Although don’t forget that some plants, like raspberries and rhododendrons, need acidic soil, so don’t use ash around those. Beans, brassicas, fruit trees and roses, on the other hand, are particularly fond of it.

You can also sprinkle the ash lightly around plants that are susceptible to slugs and snails, as it will deter them. My brother insists it’s because the ash sticks to their tummies and makes them itch, but I think it might be a bit more technical or scientific than that.

As Granddad knew, adding ash to your compost pile can enrich it with minerals but don’t just heap it on as too much ash can alter the compost’s pH balance negatively. So just add a thin sprinkling between other leafy layers.

Believe it or not, paste made from wood burner ash and water makes a great natural polish for silver, glass and dull metals. I always use it to clean the glass on my woodburner when I lay the fire, although I’ve not tried it on my whisky glass! I have, however, tried it on a tarnished silver ring and it worked well.

Some people scatter ash on slippery paths to help melt ice and provide more grip, but I’m not keen on that as I found it just got trodden everywhere, including into the house.

Wood ash apparently also absorbs odours and can be sprinkled in the bottom of bins - which will also soak up the bin juice, I suppose (ugh) – and used instead of cat litter.

Having this conversation with a dog walker, they had read that if your dog rolls in something pungent like fox poo, then rubbing them with wood ash before a bath gets rid of most of the odour. Although over the years, as an expert-roller, Yogi would have been an ideal candidate to try this on, I don’t think she would ever approved of me using ash to get rid of her ‘eau-de-fox’.

As glad as I am to see February, I always have to smile when people say it’s a ‘short month’ – by two days. That hardly counts as short does it. Not really. But, having only 28 days (in non-leap years), February is also known in Welsh as ‘y mis bach‘ – meaning ‘the little month’. I suppose it is ‘littler’ than the rest.

Of course February is associated with both Valentine’s Day and Pancake Day – and I can guarantee that it is a sign of aging when you forget about the former but look forward to the latter.

It is said that if the weather is fine and frosty at the close of January and the beginning of February, there is more winter ahead than behind, so I’ll lower my voice to a whisper here … but maybe we have ‘done’ the worst part of this winter.

And I’ll leave you with one of my nan’s favourite nonsensical sayings (and there were many), “Can February March? No, but April May”.