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beac

(9,992 posts)
9. At the end of the season, I boil huge pots of water and pour
Sat Feb 4, 2012, 02:11 PM
Feb 2012

the boiling H2O through the soil while it's still in the pots. Then I allow it to cool a bit, dump it out into a large plastic tub, remove the drainage rocks from the bottom and let it cool completely. I pull out any remaining roots and store the soil in large garbage bags in a large trash cans outside over the winter,

The next year, I amend that soil with worm poop and other organic fetilizers and use it to plant flowers. My veggies and herbs get fresh soil. The flower soil goes into the in-ground garden at the end of the season.

So far, so good with this. However, last season my tomatoes definitely had some kind of blight or fungus (despite being in virgin soil and likely airborne and unrelated to the planting medium) so, rather than risk the blight living on in nearby flower pots this year, I boil-treated the soil, but dumped it far away from the garden in the woods.

Luckily, I had a smaller than usual garden last year, so I still have a trash-can's worth of reusuable soil from 2010 for my 2012 flowers.

FWIW, I also disinfect my pots every year before re-planting. I used ozone-purified water (made using my Lotus machine) which disinfects better than bleach, but is all-natural and organic.

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