A PROFESSIONAL gardener has revealed how to save money on potting plants by reusing last year’s soil.
In the UK, a five litre bag of soil will set you back around £5 a pop.
And as the cost of living crisis continues into summer, redoing your whole garden with brand new soil isn’t a financially feasible choice.
Luckily, social media personality Gardening Grant has revealed how you can bring last year’s soil back to life and save money.
Taking to TikTok, Grant shared his three-step guide for turning weather soil in your pots into an enriching home for this year’s flowers.
He said: “Before you get rid of, or reuse, last year’s potting soil, do these three things to make sure you have beautiful blooms this year.”
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The first step is to analyse your soil.
Grant explained: “Make sure the soil from last year looks nice and healthy.
“Remove any old roots, leaves or other debris that were from last year’s flowers.”
Once you’ve checked the soil is good to go, the second step is to pasteurise it.
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Grant advised to pour your old potting soil in a big bin bag, tie it up tight and put it somewhere sunny to “bake” for four to six weeks.
The green-fingered expert added: “This process is known as solarization and will kill off any unhealthy microbes or fungus that might harm your plants.
“Using transparent or clear plastic bags will heat up the soil faster.
“But black garbage bags will work too.”
Grant used a transparent blue bin bag to pasteurise his old soil.
The third and final step is to revitalise the “baked” soil.
Grant said: “After the old soil has been pasteurised, and in half to two-thirds of fresh potting soil to make sure it’s full of nutrients your plants need to survive.”
The content creator joked in the Tik Tok video’s caption that you can use the saved money to buy more plants.
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He penned: “Buying fresh potting soil each year is $$$.
“But if you do these three things, you can reuse last year’s potting soil and save some money (to buy more plants, of course).”
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