In my large pots I never change the soil completely. I shovel it out of the container into the wheelbarrow and mix it with compost so it is approximately 1/3 compost and 2/3 old soil. Then I shovel it back in. I use What I have left to either spread on a flower bed or the garden or fill smaller pots. It works great for me and I always have lush growth in my planters.

I have never seen the need to completely change the soil. You don't do that in flower beds. You simply spread compost on top and dig it in.

If you don't have too much you can add it to the compost or if you have a flower bed or spot in the garden where the soil is not that great you can spread it there

It can be used again... but in the garden, not a container. You want to avoid any material so broken down that it's composed of nothing but the tiniest of particles. That's a recipe for disaster when it comes to container culture.

Tossing it into the compost pile doesn't recharge a worn out potting mix....it decomposes it. My used medium is broadcast directly into the garden or as a mulch over my trees.

Ditto Rhizo, pretty much what I do and was going to say. Putting it in the compost would make the compost too HEAVY (for carrying, and for weighing everything down and squashing out the necessary air) even if there was some benefit to putting it there.

Got it. Thank you, thank you.

Tossing it into the compost pile doesn't recharge a worn out potting mix

==>> hi pat

thinking the other way.. it might charge your compost....

i used to just toss it anywhere in the beds ...

ken

hi ken. rainey kisses to the hostas.