HelpfulGardener.com

I'm trying to get organized to plant some stuff soon. I am confused though as to what to do with the old soil from last year. Can I use it again and just add some more good stuff, or should I toss it and start over. If I should get rid of it, what do I do with it???

I composted all of last years soil for about 3 months in a big plastic tub on my balcony with the addition of some blood and bone, a heap of torn up newspaper and lots of pruned leaves etc. So far so good with this years crops.

These days, I just compost it, although sometimes, I use it to fill in the doggie-created craters in my yard.

In the old days, I just did cold composting, so I had to be careful about tossing in weeds, or anything diseased. If the used potting soil was from a plant that had died of a disease, or if the soil was infested with vermin such as fungus gnats, I would first sterilize the soil in my kitchen oven. Then I would toss it on the compost pile to be renewed with good soil denizens.

Are you talking about soil from containers? I just dump mine into a wheelbarrow, add some fresh soil and amendments, mix it all together and put it back in the containers.

Thanks everyone! I think I'll have to do what Rainbowgardener does and just mix it all together with the good stuff.

I think I will try rainbow's way too it will work best for my situation

I do the same as rainbow and have never had trouble.

It depends what happened to the plant that was growing in the soil. If it was healthy and you just repotted then you can reuse the soil another time, but not more than once. After that you should compost it.
If the plant died you should be a bit more cautious as you don't want to pass on anything nasty.

Large pots of soil go to the garden smaller ones that I have started seeds in goes back into my wheelbarrow of soil mix. That is to say as long as I know there are no diseases in the soil.