What to do with soil from food grade bucket containers for next year

[toolmania1]

I have my plants in food grade bucket containers. The tomatoes and green peppers did well this year. I would like to keep the soil for next year if possible. I saw some videos where people pulled out the plants and roots, tossed all the dirt into a pile, added fertilizer and new organic soil, mixed, and used that again next year. Is this a good idea? Any other things to note?

 

[Owdboggy]

Can be done like that, as long as the original plants had no diseases or fungal infections. Not to be recommended in that case.

 

[Anniekay]

I compost mine. just add it to my compost and it absorbs nutrients from the kitchen scraps added.

 

[toolmania1]

I'm worried about raccoons and pests. I want to compost but our yard is small. I don't want them close to my house.

 

[Anniekay]

I'm worried about raccoons and pests. I want to compost but our yard is small. I don't want them close to my house.

You can compost in a trash can. You just poke holes in the bottom, sides and top then secure it so no animals can get at it. People usually run a chain around trough the handles to secure the top and padlock it.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have wood in the bottom of my buckets, so don't empty them completely, just take out a bit and 'revitalise ' it. In a year's use the level has dropped a bit anyway so I don't get a lot over. What there is I put towards new buckets.
I also try to vary what is growing in them, rotating crops. At this time of year, when my tomatoes and peppers are finishing, I have strawberry runners going in, late radishes in the greenhouse, carrots coming on and some leeks I am trying in buckets for the first time, I planted them in an almost empty bucket and have been filling it up as they grow instead of a trench and earthing up.
I found carrots very successful, no slugs or diseases, I stand them up a bit and carrot fly don't find them, which means I can weed and thin without waiting for rain or evening but you can't put many to a bucket or they stay small. I don't know what grows out of tomato season in your neck of the woods, but worth thinking about, fresh carrots for Christmas dinner.

 

[toolmania1]

You can compost in a trash can. You just poke holes in the bottom, sides and top then secure it so no animals can get at it. People usually run a chain around trough the handles to secure the top and padlock it.

Do you have to turn the compost every day? Anything else I need to know? I think I want to try this. Thank you for the info.

 

[Anniekay]

Do you have to turn the compost every day? Anything else I need to know? I think I want to try this. Thank you for the info.

You do have to turn it but not that often. I generally stir mine up after I have enough added to make a difference. Probably weekly or so. You just need to keep it damp and add an equal amount of green and brown stuff (veg / leaves for example) so that your compost heats up and makes quickly and doesn't just get mushy.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Depends a bit how much time and space you have. Do it 'properly' and it's quite quick, you can have it ready in a year. When I moved in here I found the man who came and cut the grass once a month had been dumping it in a glade at the bottom of the garden for thirteen years. There was a bit on top not very well rotted, but I barrowed out what I reckoned up to be three and a half cubic meters of lovely compost. leave anything long enough it will rot down in the end. You are better off following a system though, it is quicker and won't smell. Put it at least eight feet away from anything sensitive to slags though.