2 Easy Methods to Revitalize OLD Potting Soil

Potting soil gets thrown out way too often! Barring a few serious issues (soil-borne pests or disease), you can and should re-use and revitalize potting soil for use in your container gardens. The simplest way is to add back 1/3rd fresh potting soil or compost, but the EPIC way is to tackle it in 4 steps:

1. Clean out any large roots, screen for grubs, etc.
2. Add some fresh compost or potting mix
3. Add slow-release organic fertilizer
4. Add worm castings for microbial life, worm eggs, and more nutrients

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[epicgardening]

Any pro tips you guys use that I didn't mention? DROP EM!

[yvonnerobles]

I have a pet bunny and his poops have done wonders for my porch container garden! He's litter box trained so I just take a scoop every so often and top dress my soil or mix it in to a new pot. It's a "cold" manure and also helps build up the organic matter in my soil. Bunny feeds the herbs, herbs feed me and the bunny!

[jonbranden]

I've found that emptying the pots at the end of the season into a bigger bin, then tossing in a good amount of alfalfa meal and bone meal, wetting it down, and then letting it sit in the sun for about a week until dry has worked wonders. Basically a quick and dirty compost, but adds lots of awesome nutrients.

[compticny]

When the end the growing season hits us we dump the soil from our pots into the compost pile. In the spring we screen it, place wood chips in the bottom of the pot (helps with drainage, makes the pots lighter and gets a start on the end of season breakdown), and add the soil with a few amendments.

[a_case_study]

This is so serendipitous I was JUST like 5 mins ago making a raised bed from random wood and stuff, and ran out of new soil- taking a break because I hit all I can do for today but definitely trying this with my spent old pots to make up the difference

[duckyluver]

I've been wondering about this for years and literally could not find a single video about it prior to this. THANK YOU.

[dheltberg]

Your channel, in conjunction with Mark from SelfSufficientMe, has inspired me to build a raised garden bed from scratch and take my gardening to the next level!

[IsabelleIsabelle]

I am french but bilingual. You are not speaking too fast, I love it. Thank you

[Oktopia]

Every spring I put all of my container soil into a large pile and sort through it by hand. Then I add fresh soil, slow-release fertilizer, and remove pests and bigger roots. My container garden is always lush.

[Open.Mind.I]

Dude, I love that you’re doing this BAREFOOT! So awesome to know that I’m not the only gardener who goes out to garden sans footwear.

[The.Ghost.of.Tom.Joad.]

I live in a condo in the midwest, and I've been growing in the same potting mix for 8 years. Every spring I dump the pots onto two tarps, keeping the soil type separate. I keep the roots in since it adds structure. Then I add worm castings I make, a couple 25-pound bags of compost, rotted manure, a healthy amount of organic fertilizer, etc. to each pile, mix well, and then re-pot. I plant tomatoes and peppers in the greens/ squash soil and the rest in what my peppers and tomatoes grew in the previous year.

Hoisting, dumping, re-filling, and re-hoisting all those 5-gallon containers is a drag first thing in the spring. Still, since the land I have to work with is 1) very, very, very small, and 2) heavy clay with a rocky hardpan about 3 inches down, container gardening is a god-send for this urban gardener. At least I can grow food... and lots of it. I'm a growing fool, starting dozens of starts from spring until fall, and microgreens all year long.

PS. If anyone else is pressed for space, I'd recommend a Garden Tower planter. It's a barrel-sized planter with pant-spaces recessed into the sides and an integrated worm composting tube. Below is a link to the product. (PS. I get nothing for this, I am not an affiliate... it's just a great little product for urban growers).

[Katie_O]

Before we knew anything about soil health we bought a truckload of recycled potting soil from a local nursery for $250. Filled all of our raised beds with it and after a stunted fall garden are trying to get it fixed up for spring. These tips will definitely help!

[ThesmartestTem]

I've had success for years mixing old potting mix with fresh stuff, compost, and some all around fertilizer. As long as what I planted the season before didn't have any serious issues that can be transferred to new plants. But I only reuse soil for a couple of years before dumping it out and fully refreshing.

[Alexa-mjgq]

I just toss my old soil in my compost. It all comes back around. Lol

[JaimeAT]

I mixed up the 4x4 with a trowel. It was dryed up & gritty from the years of dog piss& sun bleach. I added a bag of potting soil, mixed in saw dust, & i do that now & started watching your videos for more ideas. Thanks, Kevin.

[kareelia]

It is so impressive, how you make a sponsored video, of a quality, where it doesn't get pushy or cringy. This was informative and serious, and just showed off the product in a really good light! Really great advertising, actually! You did well by viewers and sponsors both. THey should Throw deals at you! :-) And thank you for the tips!

[onlyholliday]

KEVIN!!!! Thank you so much for this tip. I used items I already had on hand. Using an old screen, bone meal, Baccato potting soil, worm castings, and some cactus potting soil, the soil already looks and smells much better. I purchased some chicken meal and perlite yesterday; I'll add those products in a couple days. What surprised me most was that, as you directed, I did not use a significant quantity of any of these products. That in itself saved me a lot of money. In addition, because of the weather, I did not spend much time out in the garden these past three days. But with just those four additives to the soil, it did not clump up and was pleasant to deal with. As you said, it takes a little time, but the rewards are great!!! Thanks again.

[NashvilleMonkey]

When remixing dirt from planters we go under the tree and add the top layer between the leaves and the soil. This layer is amazing, and if we need extra dirt we dig into the next layer just a little. it's renewable and doesn't cost a thing. In fact this is how garden soil is made, but factories use leaves from city collections to make it and then sell it back to us, so they take our money going both ways, we must break that cycle!

[maramakesjournals]

Thank you! I did enjoy the video. I used to discard the soil in my pots. What a waste! Now I sorta do what you do. After winter, I’ll add stuff to the soil (chopped leaves and desiccated roots, fresh soil, composted material) and I wet it down like you did. This spring, I will let the revised soil sit a while as you recommended. That makes sense.

[kennethwoolard]

Some times at the end of a season I will dump piles of potting soil on the ground! This allows mother nature to take over a little. I also add some sandy clay from the yard. It helps with water retention. I also drive down the road to a curb that the street sweeper doesn't get to because of shrub over growth! The organic material that builds up there has tons of worms (fat ones) and castings! It is a beautiful thing. I have a poor soil in the yard so sometimes I dig up a square yard and remove about half of the soil. I replace the soil I took out with organic debris from the curb side!