soil Dormant potting soil and re-energizing it for spring (??)

[Zodiac_Speaking]

I got that Miracle Grow potting soil - the good stuff and now it's time for me to store away the pots I put the soil in for winter time.
Here's what I'm thinking - leave the soil in the pots and leave the pots outside in the elements but add dried fall leaves to the top of the soil and use some kind of stick or something to kind of jam the dried leaves down into the dirt. I figure they will naturally decompose and add nutrients to the soil so the soil will be good and fertile come spring time......

I know this likely won't work for some reason because it's way too easy and makes too much sense. So, tell me where I'm wrong? The other method I read about was pouring all the soil back into triple layered, heavy duty, trash bags and mix leaves and such in there every once in a while but I'm going to be honest..... that's too much work and I'm not doing it. Thoughts? I really don't want to waste the soil and I also don't want to re-buy soil next spring.

 

[mcbob]

Last year I emptied my pots into a couple of large totes and covered with plastic to keep rain out. In the spring I added compost and some fertilizer when potting new plants up. It worked just fine and saved some $$ on new soil. I'm considering doing it again to the same soil.

 

[Sulsa]

You're right... leaving the soil in the pots and jamming some fall leaves in there will not work!
In order to decompose the fall leaves wich are quite "woody" there will have to be sufficient nitrogen, oxygen and some hyperactive soil microbiome. All of these are hardly present in your potting soil after a full grow season!
Emptying the pots, removing the coarse roots and stems ( these will use up to much nitrogen while decomposing) will provide the oxygen wich is needed. Mixing in compost helps a lot in boosting the microbiome. Only thing missing is nitrogen, you could add cow or chicken manure wich will provide plenty of nitrogen and boosts the microbiome even more. You could also use nitrogen fertilizer ofcourse.
Another thing to consider is that when you add coarse "woody" materials to the mix you're ph will go down. This can be compensated by mixing in some lime. (it does take time for lime to balance out the PH, so it's no quick fix)
Also don't put the soil in airtight plastic bags! Soil needs to breathe... nasty gases must be able to expel and oxygen is needed in!

I've been recycling potting soil for about ten years now and it still does do the trick. (you won't like my method cause it's quite elaborate )

Sulsa's method: In fall empty all pots (discard soil from plants that had any health issues) and remove coarse materials.
Add 20% compost and about 5% aged cow or chicken manure. (20Liters compost, 5 liters manure on 100 liter soil)
Mix it all up thoroughly. I use 750 Liter big bags made of a woven material (so it can breathe) for storage but you could also just pile it up on some ground covering foil. Make sure the soil is moist enough but not too wet.
I cover the bags only when it's raining a lot, the rest of the winter i prefer to keep it uncovered.
Mix up the soil at least once during the winter to let in more oxygen.
In early spring time measure the ph and correct if needed and mix up thoroughly again.
When potting time is near i mix in about 10 to 20% fresh potting soil, this because the soil tends to become quite sticky when it's fully composted and adding fresh soil helps to improve the structure a lot. Masochistic as i am i push all the soil trough a soil sifter to remove any coarse materials wich will use up all the nitrogen i will add in the next step. Next i mix in the organic fertilizer for the new season and a little bit of coarse sand and powdered lava and ofcourse some fresh perlite. When using organic fertilizer as i do it's best to do this at least a month prior to potting time to give the microbiome time to make the nutrients available for my precious babies!

Downside to this method is that the total soil mass expands a little bit every year wich results in more pots ergo more peppers ergo more work!