How to Reduce Your Plastic Usage in the Garden

When Briana Bosch started her Colorado flower farm, Blossom and Branch, the fifth-generation farmer—her family had a dairy and corn farm—mimicked what her family had always done: plastic landscape fabric to control weeds, plastic seedling trays, plastic netting, even plastic irrigation tubing. It wasn’t long before she grew disenchanted with the amount of plastic she was using.

“Our major goal is to support the ecosystem, heal nature, and be more attuned with nature’s processes,” says Bosch, who farms using organic and regenerative agricultural practices. “As I researched more about soil health, I started to learn how plastic impacts microorganisms in the soil.”

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Start thinking about all the ways we use plastic in the garden—seedling trays, landscape fabric, plant pots, to name a few—and it’s hard to unsee all that planetary warming fossil fuel-produced plastic. Most of it tends to get used for a season or two before ending up in a landfill, where the consequences for the planet and ourselves can be dire.

We all know about the issue of plastics in the ocean. The United Nations has declared the plastic pollution of our oceans “a planetary crisis.” Each year, according to National Geographic, about eight million tons of plastic waste ends up in oceans. Yet, there’s likely even more plastic pollution in our soils than in our oceans. Scientists estimate that more than half of the world’s human population might have plastic passing through their bodies.

Researchers are still trying to understand what all that plastic is doing to us and to the soil, but some recent studies have found that microplastics can change the structure of the soil and potentially interfere with plant growth if they enter the plant tissues through the soil.

But there are steps we can take to reduce the use of plastic in our gardens, ultimately helping to protect our health and the planet.

Here’s how to start reducing the plastic used in your garden.

Swap your plastic plant labels

for wooden sticks, stones, or even popsicle sticks.

“I love the look and the fun of painting rocks as reusable labels! You can get paint markers, too, to keep things less messy with the kids,” says Nicole Baker, a biologist with The Wild Center, an interactive science museum in New York’s Adirondacks.

Instead of buying plastic ties and stakes

use natural twine to tie up plants and wooden or bamboo stakes to support them. You could even use a sturdy branch from your backyard or a big stick as a stake. These materials break down naturally and are safer for the environment.

Give the plastic pots or containers you have a second life.

You can wash, sanitize, and reuse them. “If they start to break down, you can often use them as drainage material in larger pots or garden beds,” says Georgia-based entrepreneur and gardener Adria Marshall. Marshall, the founder of a plant-based hair care company, Ecoslay, has been gardening alongside her mother and grandfather since the age of 12 and is on a mission to reduce single-use plastics in her garden.

If you have loads of old plastic pots or seed starter trays you’re not using, you may also be able to return some to your local greenhouse. “This plastic costs money for those nurseries, many of which are mom-and-pop-owned shops and farms,” says Baker. “Many businesses will welcome the return of their plastics, and they will reuse them. This helps out the local business and keeps that plastic out of the landfill. It’s always good manners to call ahead and ask if they would be willing to take the old, still useful, plastic pots.”

Adria Marshall. Photography courtesy of Adria Marshall.

When you do need seed starter trays or pots, consider your options.

“Instead of buying plastic seed trays or pots, use items you already have around the house,” says Marshall.

You can likely repurpose items such as coffee cans, egg cartons, and maybe even old casserole dishes.

Bosch has found a lot of success using cedar seed starter trays. “It holds up phenomenally well. You would think they would rot, but they don’t.”

You can also look for grow bags made from natural fibers such as cotton, burlap, jute, hemp, terracotta, and clay pots or biodegradable options like those made from coconut coir, peat, or compressed paper.

Baker has even had success planting directly into straw bales. “They act as both the container and as a growing medium. Straw bales get bonus points because they can be composted after the growing season for future use as a natural fertilizer.”

Instead of using plastic weed barriers or synthetic mulch

use compostable materials such as straw, grass clippings, wood chips, newspaper, or leaves. “It reduces plastic waste, and organic mulches also break down over time and add nutrients to the soil,” says Marshall.

Bagged soils, along with the seed starter trays, are two of the biggest culprits of single-use plastic in home gardens, says Bosh, adding that, most of the time, your soil probably doesn’t need much. If you need mulch or soil amendments, try to buy the biggest container you can. Some garden centers or even town landfills that have composting may offer refill stations where you can bring your own containers.

“It hasn’t been as hard as I thought,” says Bosch, who was determined to find ways to farm without using plastic. She started by removing about two-thirds of all the landscape fabric she used before eventually removing all landscape fabric and plastic netting, using natural mulch or cover crops to control weeds instead. The hardest part has been finding an alternative to the plastic irrigation tubing, as tubes with fabric are lined with resin and copper is simply cost prohibitive. “We’re buying the highest quality we can find so we’re not replacing it every year and can patch it as needed.”

You can start by targeting one thing at a time, and it might not be perfect.

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