Old Soil

Top 2. Aug 29, 1999 9:22 PM

» Naomi_Mathews - About the soil in your pots...

Hi Che!

I am a great fan of container planting, even though I also have a large gardening area. You asked about what to do with your "old" soil from your containers.

Since we have a big yard and I don't need to store my containers, I just leave the soil in my containers after I remove the plants that have bloomed so beautifully all summer. Since you've put all your soil into a large bin, can you leave it in this bin someplace until next spring?

I re-use the same soil for several years over and over again. In the spring before I plant my containers again, I just add some new mulch or additional potting soil and a good brand of fertilizer (if I think it needs it).

If you've only used this soil for one season, and IF your plants did well in it and didn't have any types of diseases, it should be perfecly fine for next year. This is the "rule of thumb" that I have followed for many years, and my flower pots seem to thrive.

I kind of think of it this way -- We don't dispose of the soil in our gardens, we just till it in the spring, and amend it as needed, then plant our flowers or veggies. So your container soil should keep very well for you in this bin, then next year you won't have the expense of re-filling those pots! It does get pricey, doesn't it?

A side note:

One thing I've done in the last few years with my large pots is this. Because we have neighbors with "CATS" who like to use my pots for their "sandbox" ...(yuk!) ... I've started leaving my old dead plants IN the pots and let the snow cover them in the winter. This does two things. (1) It keeps the cats OUT and (2) My dead plants help make mulch for next year's pots! Voila! NO cat mess in the spring! (-;

Hope this helps!

-- posted by Naomi_Mathews

Top 3. Oct 23, 1999 6:27 AM

» MaggieM - Old soil

I have been reusing soil for many years now, much in the way noted here. I mix in some manure, compost (I have a very small yard and a bin, luckily) and refill the clean pots and replant. I also winterover some things in the pots and simply scratch up the top of the soil in the spring, or divide the plants and add new soil, manure, compost mix on top or in with the divisions, old and new. Interesting enough, I don't seem to get more soil (I'm convinced the plants eat it!) but then I am adding new pots every year, too. I have a large second story deck about 24 feet by 24 feet. I'll bet you could have a worm composter in your apartment! You may not get a lot of wonderful black stuff, but some, and its not messy. Oh - yes, I fertilize my pots during the growing season, and for some, I use slow release granules, so the plants are not starved by poor soil. Just go easy on it.......lighter applications more often seems to work well for me.

What do you grow in your containers? I will try just about anything from beefsteak tomaoes to hot peppers to herbs and flowers - and tending a container garden, evenlarge is very east - and rewarding!

-- posted by MaggieM

Top 4. Oct 28, 1999 12:50 PM

» Arzeena - Container Soil

I don't think there's any problem wiht re-using soil if you're not seeing any diseases in the plants you're growing. The one thing to make sure you do is to add a bit of fertilizer either in the form of compost or manure or whatever you use to make up for the nutrients that the plants have taken out.

The only concern for me would be if you're growing vegetables like tomatoes or peppers that have diseases like verticillium or even Late blight. The spores for these have been known to stay in the soil and will infect members of the same family. So, whatever infects tomatoes can also infect potatoes, eggplant and potatoes.

The only caveat!

-- posted by Arzeena