How To Reuse Old Potting Soil - Geeky Greenhouse

We often get asked, "can I reuse old potting soil?" or "what do I do with my potting soil at the end of the year?". Well, this video is all about how to replenish and reuse potting mix! Used potting soil is not trash. There are many uses, from planting new plants, to adding volume to raised beds, and more.

Thanks for watching Geeky Greenhouse!
#reuse #potting #soil #gardening

[geekygreenhouse]

Hate the background music? Yeah, so do we. 😂 It’s something we tried in this one video, and we regret it. I wish we could remove it, but we can’t! Rest assured, there will be no distracting music in any of our future videos.

[Crazychickenlady]

Removing surprises that you may discover made me giggle. We went to empty out a planter and found baby bunnies! Mama found them and they are fine, to whoever happens to care. ❤

[ShellyRockiesG]

I reuse and amend my soil every spring before I plant. I over winter my soil by watering with fish emulsion and molasses to keep the microbes happy and healthy. I have a large-ish compost tumbler. Instead of using it for compost I use it to amend soil for my containers. I have nearly 80 containers and I can't tell you what a time saver this hack has been. Put spent soil in the tumbler, add peat moss or coconut coir, compost, organic fertilizer, worm castings, etc... I give it several spins and it comes out perfect. I'm in my 50's so anything that makes amending soil easier, I'm in.

[Soulbloom]

Thanks for making a video that is clear and under 10 mins. Not easy to find from gardeners on YouTube!

[scottluzny]

started giving information at 15 sec, should be a you tube rule to do so. well done video thank you.

[robertcroft]

Simple down to earth !! Explanation. I am 87, North England and inherited the same advise from my grandmother. (Born in 1884). Clean it up. ad bone, fish and blood, $2 US a pound, use over and over with added fertiliser as the plants grow. Never throw it away.

[rebeccazody]

I dump mine in a empty area of my garden, add leaves, small sticks, shredded paper, crushed egg shells, leave there over winter. In the spring I put it back into containers in the bottom, top off with a few inches of fresh potting mix on the top, and plant. Then I also use the mixture for mulch on the top. Works for me. Great video.

[jajjaf]

When I do the soil from last year I add one new bag of potting soil, some manure, blood meal, and bone meal. Overkill? Maybe. I don't know. I do know however my vegetables and herbs are amazing looking.

[dmk_games]

I just top up with compost (sheep or chicken manure if hungry plants were there), put some slow release organic fertiliser on top. Seems to work. The soil normally has worms after a few months and becomes an ecosystem. I wouldn't want to dry it out or disrupt it like this. I leave the old vege plants roots in there to break down, just cut them off at the base.

Only root vegetables get majority disrupted when I harvest.

[budj]

It blows my mind that some people buy new soil every year. I garden 10 4'x10' raised beds, ~50 12" pots, and 12 8 gal grow bags so I would have to stop gardening if I didn't reuse my soils. I use about a cubic yard for seedlings and new pots each year. Excellent information and you made a good point that there are lots of ways to use your soil. I have been subscribed to Pepper Geek for quite a while and I LOVE this new channel! I subscribed and will be catching up on your existing content.

[smhmay]

Ma'am, you are my kind of geek!!!

[mamajan]

Sterilizing used soil is easy and may save a plant from disease. "Solarization" is difficult. A better way is to put used potting mix in a 5 gallon bucket with small weep holes in the bottom. Then pour in 2 gallons or so of boiling water on top to kill viruses, root knot nematodes, spider mites. etc.

[patriciaramirez]

THANK YOU! I WAS TROWING AWAY MY OLD POTTING SOIL, NOW I CAN REUSE IT WITH COMPOST LIKE YOU SUGGESTED.👍

[anniegaddis]

I love adding a handfull of Azomite, worm castings, and since i have hard pan clay, I'll also add vermiculite.

[tashcheung]

Apart from the good advice, I love your open-minded attitude! It encourages me to be open too. I hope it has the same effect on others

[stewartrood]

Excellent video, very straight forward I also reuse my potting soil but did learn something watching you and then I concentrated on the watching the wheel barrow.🙂

[AnnaBrown-he]

Thanks, i done that one year when potting flowers and got told i should of just throwen it away. Now im not a gardener, but i could reason, why should I??? Famers don't throw their dirt away! They replenish it. The only thong I didnt ro was let it dry out, this year I will. I did mix it all together and added ferilizer, some of the dirt was very dry already, thanks agaln.

[balthizarlucienclan]

I usually will add it into my compost pile since I always sift my compost before use. I don't bother removing any roots etc, but I do break it up and put it into a layer between some greens.

[bluegirl]

I've reused my potting soil ever since I started container gardening. Your video is excellent in that you show how important it is to clean out the old plants and roots. I usually put new, fresh potting soil on the top third of the container and stir. So far my plants usually thrive. I'm sure I would have a better outcome if I used compost so I may give that a try this year. Thanks for the great video.

[desertflower]

I needed this refresher; was about to work with old soil to refresh it yesterday, I could not remember exactly what I’d learned.