One Hundred Dollars a Month reader, Barbara, recently sent in a question about the soil in my containers. Not only is the question pretty timely, given that it is almost time to address the containers on my patio, but I thought it might be something some of my other readers want to know.
Barbara wrote,
Hi Mavis,
I have a quick question for you about your garden containers that you use on a patio. Do you put new potting soil in them each year or do you take out what has died and add more soil to it? Some containers I have are larger and I am trying to keep from having to put all new soil which gets to add up in cost. I know that when you moved you are probably starting fresh.Thanks for your help.
Barbara
I typically change out my soil once a year and toss the old potting soil into my vegetable garden. I have found that my pots simply do better with fresh soil each year. A lot of times, when I pull out the soil from the previous year, there are significant roots, which limit how well then next year’s plantings can do. I feel pretty good about just tossing the old soil into my beds, because I typically mix in some homemade compost, and really work the soil in. My beds seem to do great with this process. Also, I usually make my own potting soil, which is waaaay more cost effective than buying the pre-bagged mix.
If you have giant pots and don’t want to commit to filling them year after year, just add old gallon sized milk jugs to the bottom of containers. It will take up some of the space in the bottom of you pots, and limit how much soil you have to add each year. {The only time I would caution against this, is if you are growing something that likes to have nice deep roots, like tomatoes, in your containers.}
If you are only growing flowers, you can also just replace about 1/3 of your soil each year, mixing the new in with the old, and making sure to remove roots from the previous year. {You may want to consider a high quality organic fertilizer a couple of times during the growing season if you choose the 1/3 soil replacement method.}
However you decide to change out your soil, the key to successful container gardening IS healthy soil. The plants are totally dependent on the soil you provide them in the small space to grow. They can’t draw from the earth around them, so taking the extra step to make sure they have nutrient rich soil each year really will show in the final product.
Hope that helps. Great question, Barbara.
~Mavis
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