Re-use potting compost

Transform your used, dry potting compost into a nutritious feast for new crops and blooms – Bob shows you how

- Bob Flowerdew

OBVIOUSLY, it’s going to give us better results more reliably if we use brand-new potting compost each and every time. However, most of us want to re-use used compost, although we are not sure we should.

Using all new compost is not inexpensive, weighs a lot to lug around, and means you have to dispose of old compost. If you have a garden, the last of these issues is no problem, as old potting compost makes grand mulch for almost anything. But without a garden or compost bin, you can only bin it – what a waste.

So can you keep re-using compost? Well, first of all, compost loses fertility as plants grow – indeed, after the first month or so, most composts with growing crops or bedding plants need supplementary feeding anyway. So just add suitable fertilizers and liquid feed when watering, then this is no problem.