by Sharon Meyer

Created on: February 01, 2009

Shhhh....don't tell the Master Gardeners but I confess to having used potting soil from the previous year. Unless your plants have died from a soil borne disease or an infestation of insects in the soil I see no serious harm in doing so.

With that said, the rest of the story must be told. At the end of the growing season I empty all planters and pots into a large tub. I remove any remnants of roots from the soil as I empty the pots. I am an avid container gardener so I end up with quite a bit of used potting soil at the end of each season but, I am also a very frugal gardener. I hate to see this soil wasted.

I then let my soil sit in the large tubs over the winter. When Spring arrives and that itch that every gardener gets to start planting sets into my soul I replenish that used potting soil by adding an equal amount of what I call "black gold" from my compost pile. So basically I am putting my used potting soil to good use by increasing my volume of soil and replenishing the nutrients that have leached out of the pots during the growing season by both the rains and uptake of the nutrients that have nourished the previous plants.

I know many gardeners who reuse their potting soil from year to year but, they go through greater lengths than I do by pouring pot after pot of boiling water to the soil. This insures that any soil borne disease is killed off by the sterilization method. I have to add a word of caution here to any new gardeners out there who think they can sterilize their soil easier by putting the soil on baking sheets in the oven or through microwaving it. I have read many a gardeners tale from people who have tried this and ended up stinking up their house so bad that they had to rent a room in a hotel until they could get the horrible smell out of their house.

Another word of caution that must be addressed is that potting soil or any soil for that matter contains living organisms and nutrients that are essential to the growth of plants. If one were to keep reusing potting soil without finding a way to replenish the soil with the nutrients used up by the plants from the previous year than sooner or later your plants will suffer from failure to thrive or just die off.

If you intend to reuse your potting soil do yourself a favor and start a compost pile. You don't need an elaborate system just a small area where you can start dumping your kitchen scraps, leaves and other green matter. When your next growing season comes you will have plenty of fresh organic matter to replenish your used potting soil.

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