.svg)
Zero waste gardening is all about reducing your waste as much as possible in your garden.
Planting a garden can be very beneficial for the environment and your community, but it has some downfalls. Getting all the materials to your yard and keeping beneficial nutrients in your soil can be difficult. Here are a few ways to cut down my waste and bukld a plastic free garden.
Zero Waste Plants
The main way to get plants to our garden is from plant nurseries and garden centers. These plants often come in types of plastic pots. An easy way to reduce the amount of plastic pots you buy is to start plants from seed. When you plant from seed you only need to buy small paper packages. This also saves a lot of money when starting a garden. There is a whole article on how to start from seed here.
Paper pots are another alternative to plastic pots. Sometimes you can find these at garden centers. They are made from paper and they are fully compostable while still making it easy to transport. You can also purchase small plants wrapped in paper from online companies such as Bloomscape.
So you still have plastic pots? I understand, I still have many plants I want to buy and end up with a stack of plastic pots. A few things you can do is reuse them when starting seeds (see my post on starting seeds to see how I reuse them). If you have larger pots you can use them for storing garden supplies or extra soil. I even use them as clean up buckets around the yard when pulling weeds and pruning.
If you still have some left that you have no use for, many home improvement stores have a take back program to recycle the pots. I have brought mine to Home Depot and their drop box is right in their garden center.
Plastic Free Soil and Compost
The best way to get compost is from your own food waste, but we don’t all have that type of dedication. An easier option is getting it delivered in bulk from a local source. This way they can just dump a pile without all the plastic bags. The cost of delivery can be expensive, but if you need a lot it is definitely worth it. Even with a delivery fee the price of mulch or soil is so much cheaper in bulk than needing to buy multiple bags.
Some smaller compost farms may let you stop by and pick up some on your own. This is nice because you can bring your own 5 gallon buckets to reuse.
Eco Friendly Gardening Tools
There are so many garden tools you can buy, but really you only need a few to get started. For the occasionally used items like loppers, edger, power rake, etc. I either barrow from a friend or family member or rent them at a local hardware store. There is no need to have all of these items in your garage. It will save you money, space, and resources.
