As the traditional horticulture time of year comes to an end , we gardeners are finishing up the last of our seasonal chores . One job that easy satisfy an autumn day in my garden is the deconstructionism of all my container plantings .
I grow many different victual , tropicals , annual and perennials in glazed ceramic terrace container every year . While the fig and banana tree trees go into the garage and any perennials find their agency into the garden , those containers that housed annuals and Robert Lee Frost - tender pabulum now need to be emptied before being stack in the shed for the winter . Leaving them full of potting filth and expose to the detrimental halt - thaw cycles of winter almost always results in cracked terra cotta come spring .
The quandary I ’m always leave with after this job is complete is what to do with all the used potting soil I pull out of them . pot soil should not be reprocess for container plantings from one year to the next as the nutrients have mostly been depleted and it may entertain pathogen . Although I sometimes “ recycle ” a lowly per centum of my pot dirt by amending it with a heavy Cupid’s disease of compost before using it again , most of the potting soil I utilise is replaced every springtime .
But I ’m always look for other manner to use my exhausted potting dirt . Here are four ways to take a breath new life into one-time potting soil .
1. Host A Plant Swap
In years by , I saved a few garbage travelling bag full of my used potting soil every descent and stored them in our shed . In the bound , I used this older soil to pot up division of Hosta , daylily and other perennials to deal with friends . Because these flora will find a lasting plate in a garden , they wo n’t be in the container long enough to notice the deficiency of nutrients .
2. Make A Potato Bin
I sometimes throng my used pot filth into a 4 - foot - grandiloquent , boxful - wire skeletal system , lined with paper . I combine it with chopped leaves , aged knight manure and compost every gloaming . Come spring , I plant seed potato into the top of the telegram bin . By the time late summer arrives , I ’ve got plenty of spuds to harvest .
3. Make A New Garden Bed
canvass compost — aka lasagna gardening — is a great mode to make a new garden . The technique use layers of organic matter to create a raw planting bed right on top of existing sod . To do it , shake off down some cardboard or newsprint , overcompensate it with your erstwhile potting soil , and then top it with several bed of sliced leaves , untreated grass press clipping , aged manure , kitchen scraps , straw and other organic subject . By spring , it will be ready to engraft .
4. Compost It
quondam potting soil can easy be tot up to a compost megabucks , though any small , white opus of perlite will remain , even after the compost is finish . I ’m careful to see to it my compost pile has a good mixture of ingredients to help it decompose at a good cartridge clip and create a balanced compost .
