I've been reading the thread about reusing potting soil -- I'd like to reuse my potting soil from last year. I have about 10 containers worth of potting soil(all between 2gallons - 5 gallons) and think it would be a huge waste to just buy all new potting soil for this year. However, when I was attempting to prepare the potting soil and mix in some perlite and some fertilizer, I noticed that the old potting soil that was in the bottom of some of the containers smelled pretty bad (especially in the self-watering containers). I'm assuming it is due to anaerobic bacterial activity. Is this soil still usable? Will letting it dry out help things at all? This is the first time I've ever attempted to re-use potting soil so I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

Thanks for any help!

Michelle