One of the questions I’m asked the most about my container garden is do I change out the soil every year. I don’t! Any soil that comes up here stays up here. This is how I refresh my used soil each year.
Let me know what else you add to your soil!
Video from last fall of how I store my soil over winter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVyzyp4v-oQ
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Hey everyone so I am back outside today and I am going to refresh the potting soil that I emptied out of all of my containers that I brought inside and get it ready to use this season I might actually pot up a plant with you today as well again not something i’ normally
Be doing this early in the season but I’m starting to need to plant some things up that are staying outside so I will link down the video below where I showed how I stored it I mean basically I dumped all of the potting soil into a container so that’s pretty much the
Video but I’ll link it down in case you want some more information there um but today I’m going to refresh it and I pretty much use two main things when I refresh soil whether it’s what I emptied into the Container or whether it’s when I refresh my raised beds so I never
Completely replace the soil the only time I will get rid of soil is if there was something diseased growing in it and I don’t want that disease to spread through the soil luckily that’s never happened in a raised bed but gardening on rooftop deck there’s really no place
For the soil to go I can carry it down obviously that’s how I discard any disease soil but there’s no place for me to like empty out excess soil other than our Parkway so the soil that comes up here stays up here forever and it’s worked for me since 2020 when I first
Started gardening here I also confirmed it with one of my horiculture professors last year in the fall I kind of went through my process and she said that sounds good so the two main things that I use to refresh my soil compost and perlite the compost is to add nutrients
Help balance out the soil the perlite is because as time goes on the particles in soil break down and get smaller which makes drainage worse so I add the perite in to improve drainage so those are the two things I’m going to add today and
Then I also like to add in usually when I’m actually planting something things like biotone earthworm castings anything else that bone meal anything that’s like really good for plants I’ll add in when I’m actually planting into a pot but for now I’m going to get my tub refreshed so
That I have it ready to go for all the planting that I’m going to start doing underneath this raised bed my what will be my gum frina bed is the tub of soil that I just left out here over winter so I’m going to pull that out get it
Refreshed and then just stick it right back under I will show you later how I refresh my raised beds my pots large grow bags this probably won’t happen until I get my warm season annuals out maybe may maybe sometime in April depending on the weather but I am going
To refresh this container today and it’s just like a rubber container from Home Depot works really well for staying outside over winter so the first thing I’m going to do is just rake through the soil this is already dirty cuz I’ve been using it but rake through the soil if there’s any
Like rocks or clumps of any root balls that are left in here I will take those out now obviously you want to wait to do this this until after your soil is no longer Frozen because that’s not really going to be very productive but because the weather’s been so nice and I’m
Moving plants out honestly this is probably a month earlier than I expected to be doing this but here we are and I do know that I’m sure we’ll get some more weather that’s a little bit colder hopefully nothing that’s going to like completely damage the plants so it seems like in
Here we’re looking pretty good so I’m kind of going back and forth I think what I’m going to add in first is the perlite because that’s going to be easier to mix around before this is completely full so I’m going to add so I’m going to add in that perite in here
Again that’s to improve the drainage especially in my garden where I have a lot of issues with root rot I add it here I will add it in my raised beds as well um and then we will get the compost added in so I’ve grabbed my perlite now
I would say if I was let’s say filling up a container this large starting with an empty container I wouldn’t put like all the soil in and then try to add perlight I would do like layer of potting soil layer of perlite layer of compost mix and then continue kind of
Like lasagna just because it’s easier to mix a little bit at a time and then add more but my goal really is to mix the perlite all the way through now since I’m not planting directly in this container I can like let’s say I get to the bottom there’s less perite I can
Then just add perite directly to the container that I’m planting in with my raised beds though I really want to make sure I get down at the bottom because that’s where the most clay like potting soil is because the particles are so small and have broken down over time but
In here I’m just going to try to get as much as I can in here mixed as deep down as possible I probably have about 6 in from the top with all of the pots that I emptied out so let’s just go ahead and dump and
Mix try not to spill too much while you’re doing it and then again just raking in here now because there’s kind of that like white powder that comes out I don’t know if I should be wearing a mask while I do this I’m not really one for safety even
Though I should probably be more so in the garden um so keep that in mind at least so I’m just mixing this in now kind of what I’ve come across as the recommended ratio is 1 to four um so like one part perlite to four parts potting soil but it’s really going to
Depend on the plant it’ll also depend on how much perlite you have for me I’d rather start with less perlite because it’s always easier to add than take some out I don’t even really know how you take some out but that way if I do have either a plant that wants better
Draining soil or it’s a container where I know that the drainage isn’t as good as other containers and I can just again add perlite specifically at that time to that container going to stand up so I can get better leverage to scoop all the way as far down to the bottom as I
Can and I’m just going back and forth again if this was empty I would have done layers of this but trying to get as far down to the bottom as I can here the compost I’m using is Blue Ribbon Organics compost I’ve never been tied to a particular compost I will take
Whatever I can find at the Garden Center or Home Depot I’ve used like chicken manure mushroom compost I believe this one it said was made from food waste so any compost seems to work well for me obviously there’s going to be a few different balance of nutrients based on
The compost that you’re using but for me I’m not really tied to anything in particular now I do also have a Tumblr composter on the back deck it’s so small again issues with small space that whatever I make in there doesn’t leave that deck in fact it usually just feels
Like a couple of my race beds back there and that’s it but something I want to look into is some sort of composting system maybe not a Tumblr composter but something I can like slide underneath like for example this raised bed the raised bed behind me that way it’s not
Taking up space I would be using for plants but I have more space to compost so let me know if there’s a system for that that you would recommend something that’s relatively I mean maybe I have about 18 in to 2 ft of available height underneath there I can get away with a
Little bit more width so let me know if you have any ideas so let’s get the compost added in and that’s the last step that I’m going to do at least for now in this bin so that’s everything I’m doing so far to refresh as far as as like balance
Of compost again I’ve seen different things like 1: one 1 to three I just added in however much would fit so that’s where I’m at and again but I’m planting up something I can add in more compost if I want to I also like to top
Dress with compost so now let’s go ahead and will use what I just made and plant up one of my hydranges the hydrange I’m going to plant up today is let’s dance sky view the reason I’m planting these up is because I have a feeling they are
Pretty root Bound in here and I want to be able to give them enough water as they’re starting to grow this was overwintered in the garage in the nursery pot now it’s ready for its own pot so let’s take that out now as far as the container this is like I would say
Medium for my garden maybe probably small in a lot of people’s Gardens so it will dry out much faster than a larger container so again with the level of per light in here of the current level of drainage I think we’re pretty good so I’m going to put that in there and a
Good thing about containers let’s say I realize this does need more drainage I can always pop the hydrange out put more perlight in replant the hydrangea not that you want to be you know moving your plants around that much but if you make a mistake you can go in and fix it
Pretty easily in a container garden let’s get you out of your pot yeah that looks very root bound and ready for a ro pot so I’m just going to break up some of these roots here with my fingers and then I want to get this planted so that there’s an
Inch at the top so I need to take out some of the soil cuz I filled it up too much see if that height works better oh that’s perfect okay there we go this is exciting again I still can’t believe I’m doing this this early into March but Mother Nature is the one
Dictating my garden schedule as much as I like to think I’m in charge I’m not all right the hydrange is all planted up now normally at this time I would water but when the water is not on yet I could still fill up with watering can inside but we are supposed to get
Rain tomorrow so assuming we do I’m just going to leave this outside to get rained on if we don’t then I will go ahead and and water this myself but that’s all I do to refresh the potting so you know what now that I’m thinking about it I probably should have added
Some biotone into here maybe I’ll sprinkle some in a little bit just on the top and rake it in but don’t think that like this is all that you can add in you can add in whatever else you want once you plant it up so you can go ahead
And mix in anything else that you want for your plants because different plants are probably going to need different things as well but yeah that’s everything that I do for this so I guess I’ll cover it back up and we’ll get it moved back under there I’ll just pull it
Out as needed something I do also need because this hydrangea goes on the back deck luckily it’s small enough to move over here um but I’m probably going to need another tub for the back deck that way I can easily just fill up on the
Front deck with this one fill up on the back deck with another one but right now I only have one because I didn’t really have that much to empty on the back deck all right and we’re done so it’s as simple as that let me know if there is
Anything else that you add to your potting soil that’s been used in the past I’m always open to adding new things into my garden routine but it really is that simple and again I’ve been doing this since 2020 and I’ve never had any issues with anything growing now I do apply liquid fertilizer
Throughout the season for my plants as well um and then I’ll add in like I said other good things just kind of as I feel like it but that’s pretty much it the number one question I feel like I get asked in my garden is do you replace the
Soil every year and no I couldn’t I couldn’t Garden that would be way too much work to Garden if I had to do that because I’d have to probably hire somebody to take the soil away and then carrying up all of those bags of soil
Cuz you think a bag of soil goes far until you pour it into a pot and it’s filled up half of the pot so for all my raised beds all of my pots would just be way too much work so luckily this seems to work out pretty well so like I said
Let me know if you do reuse your soil any other tips that you have let me know about potential composting that I can fit under my raised beds and I will see you in the next video oh and I will show you in a different video how I refresh
My raised bed but it’s a pretty similar process bye
13 Comments
And then do you fertilize the plants as you plant them and throughout the season? Compost is sooooooo expensive here in California. I add eggshells when I remember and I did add milk for end rot on my squash, all into the soil.
I am in Iowa and started composting last year in a plastic bin. Just drilled holes all around it (top, sides and bottom). I mix it up like every other day in the summer and once a week in the winter. I add my kitchen scraps, leaves and shredded paper every once in awhile. There are some great diy compost videos out there. But it works really well!
I love this! I’ve never mixed compost into soil in my containers but I’m thinking I should try it for a change😊
I reuse the soil from my container garden as well. Sometimes I put it on the compost heap, mix it with kitchenscraps and then I use that compost. On my balcony I have a wormbox. I feed them with kitchen scraps and then I use the worm castings. Such a worm box would fit under your raised bed. The problem is only in winter. If you have a garage you can leave them there or in a bathroom. They don't smell at all. Just by chance I ordered some perlite for the first time recently. I'm curious how it is going to "perform" 🌝 Happy gardening 🌸🌷💕
I do reuse my potting mix each year adding in new potting mix, compost and worm castings. I didn’t think of adding perlite or bone meal great idea.
Thanks about the perlite tip. I wondered why my pots were not draining as well😊
I also don’t really have the space for composting, so I ended up setting up a few worm bins in plastic tubs. It’s great for using up food scraps and keeps rodents out as it’s all contained in the tubs. I think that would be the best bet for your space. The only problem is getting the worm castings out and separating them from the worms and the eggs. It can be more difficult the smaller the worm bin, imo. Winters may be a problem as well. I just left mine outside but our winter are much milder in uk than yours.
Enorme maceta
I use Black Kow composted manure to amend my soil every year. I discovered that I need less of that amendment in place of ordinary compost. I've also used Alfalfa Pellets that have work well.
Try worm composting/vermin culture.
bokashi composting is great for small spaces!
I do as you do with my container soil….I never throw it out. 👩🏾🌾 One thing I add is wood ash. During wintertime, I have my hubby burn wood in the fireplace or bbq pit. As ash minerails the tree pulled up during its growth are released into the soil as it's watered. Oh, I also add coffee grounds.
I wish you a super gardening year!🪻🌻🌺🌹🪴
You would just need a crane. No big deal 🙂 🙂 🙂