How To Re-Use Old Potting Soil - 4 Methods for Recycling || Black Gumbo

From the North of England. I am 85 , my grandmother was born in 1884 and we always used the same method and used the soil over and over . A hand full of bone meal and a hand full of fish, blood and bone , and you are set for another year ! Cheap and it works !

Ernie died in the 80's, and had a compost pile, and I heard he had pride in his compost. I decided to throw it in the garden about the year 2000, and plant tomatoes. I got multiple grocery bags of tomatoes, and was drowning in tomatoes, in my first garden. It was actually too easy. I think it warped my thinking, that you could plant, and things grow. (lol). I also took his 20 year old seeds, and threw them out in the garden I was not using. Things grew out of control.

Thank you very much. At least 20 or 30 years ago I was somehow educated to bake potting soil in the oven before reusing it from year to year. I did that for awhile and will never know why. But it was ridiculously burdensome and seems to defy logic. For another few years I bought new potting soil every single season and discarded the old soil . I could kick myself. We couldn't afford that and it was so stupid. Believe it or not I"m a dietitian professionally so I"m all about nutrition ! But the marketers got to me and I was convinced I needed brand new soil every year. Now years later I'm not as ignorant; I have learned more and better. I revere soil and it's complexity. I have two enormous botanical garden- like properties and I grow everything imaginable. Your instruction aligns with everything I think is right and it's helpful to me, and I'm sure to others. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

Just amazing! 1.9 million views. Just proves that people need to know how to do stuff. I plan to do more videos like this next year. God bless!

I dumped all of my old soil from pots into a raised bed, added coco coir, dried mint leaves, some organic tomato fertilizer and azomite. Why mint? Because it smelled good 😊and I was hoping it will keep bugs away. Tomatoes grew to over 8 feet tall and had unbelievable harvest from 7 plants enough to fill a small chest freezer and more to give away.

I am an adult home gardener but had difficulty finding a true meaning of “weed”. A weed is ANY plant that you don’t want to grow in your garden. 😊Thanks

This is the first of your videos I've watched. I wanted to thank you for the high-quality information.

This may be the best 20 minutes I've spent learning about growing healthy plants, and the science behind it. He's thorough, very well spoken, and presents easily understood, very useful information. The video is great, and shows all the details very clearly. Sharing this with friends. Much appreciated!

I had a very serious tomato nematode issue last year from re-using expensive potting mix. This year I have been placing my old mix-filled grow bags into 5 gallon buckets with a few small drainage holes in the bottom. Then I pour about 2 gallons of boiling water on top of it all to kill out soil virus and critters. It all stays very hot for some time. Then I pour it all onto a large, heavy duty plastic sheet in the garage and let it dry our a few days. It no doubt washes out some remaining nutrients thus I re-fertilize before planting. So far so good. I have harvested over one-hundred tomatoes plus Kale, Arugula, Basil and green onions out of my spare bedroom this winter so far...more coming! I use cheap LED grow lights over the 2x8 foot grow area and surround the whole thing with cheap reflective "space blankets."

Okay, this entire video is gold. I have struggled so much understanding the micro-happenings of soil because it’s always taught so objectively! I FINALLY am getting it!! You are a fantastic teacher, thank you for doing as soil life does to compost: breaking it down! Adhd/Autistic people like me have accessibility to this important science when educators take time like you do!

An absolute benchmark of how to make a great YouTube video. Thank you.

Very good1. I'm a lifelong container gardener & this info is just what I need in my small patio garden.

Perfect! No more arguing with the wife about using last year's potting soil mixed in with fresh bag soil. Thank you, sir.

Human bodies need all these minerals as well! Our soil is SO DEPLETED! Can't get it from commercial food. Thank you for sharing!

This is the video I was looking for. I wasn't sure if I needed to remove the wood mulch from last year's planting, and now I know that I need to remove the mulch that made its way into the soil as well. Very helpful, thank you so much.

Hi Scott! I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge with the world! I've learned so much! 😊

It is mind boggling to me that someone would throw out dirt. 🤯🤯 In my large containers I add eggshells in the fall and food scraps through fall and winter. With my flower pots, in the spring I dump all the pots in a wheelbarrow and sift it all together with some amenities. And it grows really well.

Last year, I acquired a new, very large, and very deep raised bed. It was going to cost me a small fortune to fill it. But then I had a stroke of genius. My mom had numerous pots she wanted dumped out into the blackberry brambles. Instead, I dumped them into the new bed. I added kitchen scraps all winter long. When the time came to plant potatoes, I simply added 3 inches of soil to the top and planted them. I then filled the rest of the bed with straw (Ruth Stout Method) and watered everything down. I didn't spend a fortune filling the bed with soil, and the extra height of the walls keeps the straw in place over the potato plants. That bed is THRIVING! Our compost bins are always growing potatoes, so I figured they would probably do ok with a compost "bin" for a foundation layer. It appears that I was correct. At least so far.

great video, very useful info and well presented. thank you. May your garden grow!

Thank you Tracie. They are gorgeous .