Can you reuse compost from pots? Garden expert reveals his secret for successfully reusing this nutrient-rich soil amendment

Ever wondered if you can reuse old compost from pots after the flowers have faded away? Well, you're in luck because one expert says there's life left in your old compost and you can reuse it to plant new blooms.

Using sustainable gardening ideas not only saves you money when planting and tending to your garden, but it is also fantastic for the environment. From using teabags in your garden to making compost at home from scratch, there are so many ways you can cut down on waste and keep your plants happy.

The latest discovery in low-waste gardening has everything to do with repurposing your used soil and compost. Yes, those barren pots filled with old compost can still provide hope yet, all you need to know is how best to prepare it.

Can you reuse compost from pots?

Filling your garden with some of the best container plants can be so rewarding, however, when you find yourself looking at a rather sad empty pot that failed to bloom or has faded away it's anything but. So what can you do with your composted soil when your flowers never show up or they're way past their peak?

Garden Designer and Influencer Ish @Gardening.with.ish on TikTok explains, "Can you reuse old compost? Now the quick answer to this is yes, you absolutely can but it takes a few extra steps first."

To demonstrate his method, he shows a terracotta pot filled with dried compost and old stems, which were once blooming sunflowers. He says, "Our old sunflowers in here have had quite a good root base in them so I'm going to show you how to clear up your soil and get it prepared ready for next time."

At this point, we'd recommend getting your essential garden tools ready as well as a large plastic container, whether that's a box or even a flexi bucket.

"To make life easier don't hesitate just take this and put it in a big tub like that first and that will help us see what’s going on in the soil. Now you can see from the bottom of the pot I've added in some gravel and that's okay, that will work as additional drainage, so I'm not too worried about that," advises Ish as he dumps the old soil into the container.

He goes on to explain that even though there can be a lot of root base left over in your old soil, most of it will have been broken down through the winter so it's fine to be left in there. However, you will need to give it a good mix and remove weeds, stems and bigger roots.

"Now that those bits are discarded, I've got some organic material," Ish explains. "But as you can imagine it's still massively lacking in rich nutrition which new plants need so I'm going to just take some freshly rotted compost and add about 25% of this to 75% of the old soil and what that does is replenish some of the nutritional value in that organic matter."

This is where it's great if you have some extra compost hanging around, we'd recommend using peat-free both as a sustainable indoor plant practice and for garden plants too.

"It's not just old plants you can use to recycle the compost too I've got some failed seedlings that unfortunately never quite took which is such a shame," says Ish. "I also have a rescue plant from the garden centre that never managed to survive in the greenhouse, so just reuse all of that old compost and break it down."

Just make sure you're adding in some new well-rotted compost at the correct ratio to used and you'll find you quickly fill up a tub made nearly entirely from the old mix.

"We can use this to make fantastic new plants for this year and it's cost us next to nothing, so it couldn't get any easier than that really," finishes Ish.

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If you're using soil from the ground of your garden it's important to know what soil type your land has. Each type offers both advantages and disadvantages to your plants so it's important you know what nutrients need to be added and how to prepare the soil correctly.