Looking for a simple and easy way to save, recharge and reuse your old potting soil from hanging baskets and containers this fall?
Autumn has arrived and all of those hanging baskets and flowering pots that were once overflowing with life have finally reached their end. Unfortunately, at this point, no amount of water, fertilizer or care is going to bring them back. But that doesn’t mean the soil or the decaying plants should be tossed to the curb.
Even though the soil’s nutrients have been depleted and the plant’s foliage and stems might be all but lifeless – they both still have tremendous value. Especially when you can easily save and rejuvenate all of that tired, old soil and bring it back to life to use again!
It’s no secret that buying new potting soil can be quite the expense. And it just keeps getting more and more pricier with each passing year. Even when you make your own potting soil at home, it can get quite costly to have to keep replacing it every single spring.
But here is some great news – you don’t have too! In fact, by simply recycling and recharging the old potting soil in your planters this fall, you can cut down that expense tremendously. And best of all, the process is easier than you might ever think!
The Easiest Way To Save Old Potting Soil This Fall To Use Again
Unfortunately, saving old potting soil isn’t as easy as clearing out the old plants and keeping the soil around until next spring. In a single growing season, the potting soil in containers lose nearly all of its structure and nutrients.
If you try to plant again in the old soil, there just isn’t enough power in the dirt. So how do you recharge it? By creating a simple potting soil compost pile that can revitalize the soil quickly over winter.
It’s not only easy to do, it also doesn’t require a lot space. In fact, you can do it in a small corner of your garden or a small compost bin. If not available, you can even use a large trash can or two.
The Simple Steps To Creating a Potting Soil Compost Pile – The Easiest Way To Save Old Potting Soil
Although you can recycle old container soil and spent plant foliage in a traditional compost pile, by creating a separate potting soil compost pile, you can keep the soil light and loose for use the following spring.
In a traditional compost pile, a wide range of materials are added. Because of that, many of the materials take longer than the others to break down. But in a potting soil compost pile, you add only simple, small and powerful ingredients that break down quickly. This is ideal – because it allows the pile to be ready to use the following spring.
All you need is a separate space to create your potting soil pile. It’s important to put it in a place that can easily drain. This will help the pile from becoming overly wet or saturated. If using a large bin or trash can, poke a few holes in the bottom to allow moisture to get out.
Building The Pile – The Easiest Way To Save Old Potting Soil
Once you have your pile location set, start by adding in your old potting soil and plant debris. Before adding, chop up the plant foliage and stems into small pieces and mix the soil and dying foliage together. This includes chopping up the roots in the soil as well.
Although the roots, leaves, stems and flowers may be dead or dying, they still have nutrients to give back to the soil. It’s important to note that the smaller you chop them up the better. This allows everything to break down fast – which is important to have the pile ready to use as potting soil by spring!
Now it’s time to add a few key but powerful ingredients that will help give new life to that tired old soil!
Recharging Your Potting Soil Pile – The Easiest Way To Save Old Potting Soil
To recycle and energize your soil, there are five great additions that really work wonders. For starters, it’s vital to add some compost to the potting soil. Compost is teeming with nutrients, good bacteria and microorganisms. All of these ingredients help to re-energize the pile and help break other materials in it down fast as well.
As a general rule of thumb, mix in about 1 part fresh compost for every 5 to 10 parts of potting soil. The goal is to add enough so the pile is about 10 to 20% compost. If you don’t have fresh compost, bagged compost will work here as well. Affiliate Product Link: Ribbon Organics OMRI Certified Organic Compost
Beyond the compost, finely shredded leaves, green grass clippings, coffee grounds and pulverized egg shells are perfect additions. All of these are small and can be finely shredded or pulverized. They also break down fast and are high in nutrients – which is perfect for powering up your potting soil.
It’s best to build you pile completely over the course of two to three weeks with the leaves and green grass clippings. This will still give the materials plenty of time to break down in late fall and through winter before spring arrives.
As for the coffee grounds and pulverized egg shells, they can continue to be added right up until you use the potting soil. They incorporate almost instantly to add more power. For more on grinding down egg shells to use, see our article: The Best Way To Save Egg Shells Over Winter – How To Save & Store Egg Shells With Ease!
Winter Care – The Easiest Way To Save Old Potting Soil
As the weather allows, turn the mix in your pile a few times each week. Just like a compost pile, the organic material will heat up and break down faster any time oxygen is added by turning. By keeping all of the added ingredients extremely small, by spring, the pile will look and feel like ultra-rich potting soil.
It can be used straight or mixed in with 25% new potting soil if it needs to be lightened up. Usually, if you have added enough organic matter, it will be light and ready to use as is. As with our homemade potting soil, we always mix in a few cups of worm castings too. We usually add two cups to every 5 gallon bucket of potting soil.
If you have worm castings left over in the fall, it’s great to add them to your potting soil compost pile when you first start it as well. They are simply unbelievable when it comes to powering up soil. They are the perfect slow-release fertilizer for nearly every plant. Affiliate Product Link: 100% Worm Castings
Here is to saving your old potting soil this fall and using it again next year. And to saving a lot of money in the process! Happy Gardening – Jim & Mary.
Old World Garden
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
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