Use Old Potting Soil to Make a Marigold Seed Starter

Every fall when my outdoor plants become indoor plants I change the soil. A few times I’ve gotten a little lazy with it and ended up with a few more pests than I want in my house. So now I make it a habit every year to put fresh potting soil in my plants, move them into larger containers if they need it, and give them a brand new bit of dirt. However, the dirt they were in is still perfect to use for outside plantings.  I love to use old potting soil to make marigold seed starter. marigolds are one of my favorite flowers to plant. Not because they smell great because they don’t ( check out this post here,) but because they add so much color, come in a variety of sizes,and are great to use in organic garden for not only beneficial insects, but they also make great natural pest control for lots of different insects.

I save my marigold seeds from year to year, but it’s just as easy to do this with packets of seeds. I have a video of explaining  the process below, or you can skip down to the rest of the post.

It’s as easy as mixing your old potting soil (Not from diseased plants, make sure to discard that soil!), and mix your potting soil in with your marigold seeds or other similar seeds such as poppy, zinnia, cosmos.

And mix them all in together until the seeds are evenly distributed in about a 1/3 to 2/3 seed to soil ratio. Once the seeds are mixed in you can cast this seed/dirt mixture with your marigold seeds in any area you’d like it to grow (when it’s appropriate for your last frost date.). I also like to take a little bit of the extra dirt and sprinkle it over the top as a covering.

I love this because it helps keep the birds out of my seeds and makes them more likely to germinate, and I don’t have to do any digging. There is probably a little bit of plant food in the potting soil too. It’s a great way to use old potting soil that you’ve paid a lot of money for! I will say I don’t ever use this in my organic garden, or with any kind of gardening that would involve growing food at all. I only use this with my ornamental and decorative flowers. I am seeding this around an old Silver Maple we have in the yard. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you how it looks by early summer!

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