New to the forum....what to do with old potting soil?

[cyclops]

Hi All,
And thank you in advance for your suggestions. We have house with a very small yard so my wife puts flowers and plants in pots (about 40 pots) on the deck and around the house. Every year we toss the soil and start over in the Spring.

I am wondering if you have any suggestions for how to recycle the soil? Is there some sort of grinder that we can dump the soil, plants and roots into so we can reuse the soil next year?

Thank you!

[cynthia_h]

I mix my "used" potting soil up with compost and some new potting soil when putting current seedlings into pots or potting up into larger pots.

If a plant died from disease (happens every now and then), I put the used potting soil into my compost bin. The critters in there will deal with the offending organisms, and I'll eventually get the potting soil/compost back into circulation.

Welcome to The Helpful Gardener!

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[Kisal]

I mix my "used" potting soil up with compost and some new potting soil when putting current seedlings into pots or potting up into larger pots.

If a plant died from disease (happens every now and then), I put the used potting soil into my compost bin. The critters in there will deal with the offending organisms, and I'll eventually get the potting soil/compost back into circulation.

Welcome to The Helpful Gardener!

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

I do this, too.

[cyclops]

Thank you!

[Tdebruycker]

you can always touch up the soil with worm castings. if you decided to keep some plants in their pots to refresh the soil, this works great