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What do you do with soil from plant pots?

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  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,016

    I throw it on the veggie garden. Used to be clay but years of compost and manure have made it workable.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    On the garden.  Roots can go on the compost heap.

  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066

    Same here, put it on the garden.  I always use fresh compost as the one year I didnt, (wasn't well) the plants were not as good and didnt flower for as long.

    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • i use it as autumn mulch. As the garden is still in flower, i have got mine still in pots ready to be used as mulch after the first hard frost knocks everything off.

     

  • Jack 3Jack 3 Posts: 360

    Thank you for all the advice! Sounds good, I think I will put it all around the garden.

    Cheers.

  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276

    Hmm....I think I need to review my methods image

  • I hate throwing away things but I do feel best to give the new plants in pots a good chance.  So like many of the folk above, I empty pot out and scatter over the flower bed as a mulch.  I do put some back on top of the crocks in the bottom of the pot as I use quite a bit of grit in the mix. 

    However, I have pots with geraniums that I overwinter and bring out and off they go still in the same pot.  I do feed well.  Scatter blood,fish and bone in spring then tomato feed rest of summer.

    My next big thing is what do I do with some pots with evergreen honeysuckle (2 years old) and jasminoides (2 years old) and two beautiful hydrangeas - about 5 years old - in the same pots.  Should I try and cut them back in spring and get them out, prune the roots and repot.  Have been worring about this for a while!

  • SFordSFord Posts: 224

    I agree, used/depleted compost on the garden (after checking for nasties).

  • Fishy, you can re-use it providing you replace all of the nutrients (including micro-nutrients aka trace elements.)  After all, commercial compost made from coir and the like has no nutrients in at all it until they add them during the manufacturing process.

    Having said that, you do risk pests and diseases building-up.  Personally, I put all of my used compost on the borders and other areas as my clay soil needs every bit of organic matter it can get. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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