Time to clean out containers
For backyard gardeners, the risk is low. For a commercial landscape contractor who is maintaining beautiful, large containers at a mall or business, the risk is greater.
Now that we have had a killing frost, at least in my neighborhood in rural Clark County, it’s time to clean up the garden. Some may have already started, but I usually wait until after a killing frost.
On a side note, this is the latest killing frost that I can remember. I am sure there have been years like this, but in my small, forgetful mind, this year is the year.
This weekend I will attend to my containers since all the annual plants in them have been killed. I already pulled out the elephant ears and banana and have them stored.
When cleaning out containers, the question arises, “Should I save this soil and use it next year?”
The easy answer to this question is, “It depends.” Not very clear, right?
The more challenging answer is, “What is the risk to using the soil again?”
For backyard gardeners, the risk is low. For a commercial landscape contractor who is maintaining beautiful, large containers at a mall or business, the risk is greater.
Reusing the soil is fine if the soil is still in good condition and friable. If it gets used over and over, the organic matter in a soilless mix eventually breaks down and doesn’t promote good root growth.
The other issue that arises, particularly for a commercial containerscape, is the possibility of pest problems overwintering in the container, ready to take on next year’s crop.
For instance, if you have slugs or have had other insect or disease problems on the plants in the container, it’s possible that they will overwinter in the soil. Maybe you don’t know that you have a pest problem in the container, and it overwinters in the soil.
A commercial landscape contractor with a large contract may not want to take that risk. They can’t afford something to wipe out their container plantings mid-season.
On the other hand, as a backyard gardener, I am willing to take that risk. My containers aren’t that high-profile, and I don’t have a lot of money invested in them. If something happens, I can afford to either replant, or remove the container.
I typically use the soil in my container for three to four years, and then dump the soil in my perennial garden.
Yes, there might be some pest problems in the soil that I dump, but not enough for me to worry about. If you don’t want to dump it in the garden, consider the compost pile.
Speaking of compost, all my annuals go to the compost pile. I am a lazy composter, meaning that everything is piled up and turned periodically if we think about it.
At Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum, we pulled all the annuals from the Cultivar Trials on Wednesday. We take them to the compost area, run over them with the mower, chopping them up into smaller pieces. They compost faster by doing this.
Cleaning up my containers this fall makes it a lot easier to get started in the spring. There is usually too much to do then.