Gardening goes Green – pots & containers

Every eco-conscious gardener knows that it’s virtually impossible to avoid plastic when gardening. Whether on your gardening tools, plant stakes, plant labels or plant pots plastic is everywhere no matter what garden center you visit. This week I thought we’d share some eco-friendly alternatives to those store bought plastic pots!

Easy seed starters
For starting seeds try egg boxes, newspaper pots and starting seeds in toilet roll tubes. All of these work well for small seeds, but beware, being made from paper/cardboard they do soak up a lot of water this can lead to problems with over/under watering which can cause issues with either plants drying out or getting too wet and mold being an issue. Best to keep these close by and in the house and under daily care until they harden off.

Reuse garden center seedling pots
If you’ve bought seedlings from garden centers once you’ve transplanted the seedlings save the pots! Simply wash in a soapy not-toxic solution, dry and reuse. All our friends and neighbors know to save their 6-packs for me and I often leave in the morning to walk the dogs with these sitting on my doorsteps as neighborhood gifts. To return the favor I simply sow more than I need and regift them a 6-pack of the plant.

My tomato seedlings in re-used plastic food containers

Save from the recycle bin
Before throwing items into the recycle bin we should stop and think “could this potentially be a plant pot”? After all a plant pot is just a plastic ‘cup’. We save all manner of items in our house for plant pots, things like Oil containers (before we opted for glass contained oil), margarine tubs, and yogurt pots (my favorite) can easily become plant pots for your upcoming seedlings. Simply take an awl and punch 4-6 holes large holes in the bottom for drainage. On the odd occasion we order take out I wash, rinse and dry the Styrofoam/plastic cups to use as plant pots too.

Free Resources
Put a wanted post on Freecycle and Craigslist for plant pots and containers, and heck even margarine tubs! I received many many plant containers this way, including some gallon and 5/10 containers when a resident landscaped their yard. I saved them a trip to the recycle plant and I got a supply of free plant containers! You never know what replies you’ll get. One fFeecycler offered me some of her fruit tree saplings, she’d planted up in reused milk jugs when they’d popped up around her main trees. It cost her nothing and I got a free fruit tree!

Free fruit trees and in reused containers

Reusing existing containers, whether from the garden center or rescuing them from the recycle bin, is a great way to save the planet and helps your pocket book too! Even if the item is something YOU won’t use, stop and think “could a gardener use this?”, chances are if you can’t use it one of your local eco-friendly gardeners can!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles