In support of this year’s Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea exhibit, presented by Dar Stumpf & Clyde Reed, the Garden has been brainstorming ways to reduce our plastic waste – from using fewer plastic products to recycling that plastic that we do use!
Unfortunately, you’ll find plastic in all sorts of places while gardening – plastic watering cans and other gardening tools, plastic planters, plastic plant labels… the list goes on! Thankfully, there are tons of ways you can reduce your plastic waste in your own home garden.
- Try to avoid using topsoil and potting soil from plastic bags. This may be difficult if you only need a small amount of soil, but if you’re starting a large gardening project, you may be able to get soil in bulk from a local landscaping supply store. If this isn’t in the cards for you, though, don’t worry – there are plenty of other ways to cut down your plastic usage!
- Compost your own food scraps. On a similar note, instead of buying bags of compost, make your own! Not only does this cut down on your plastic waste, but also lessens your food waste, as well. For composting tips, check out this blog post.
- Opt for sturdier metal tools instead of plastic ones. Rather than using plastic watering cans, trowels, or other tools, buy metal ones instead. This will help your tools last longer and reduce the amount of plastic you’re using.
- Reuse plastic planters. It can be hard to avoid using plastic when a lot of plants come packaged in plastic pots. However, don’t throw them away when you’re done using them! Instead, use these leftover planters as storage for your garden supplies, cut the bottoms off to make plant collars, or cut them into strips to make plant labels. Or, you can use them to create a Washed Ashore-inspired art piece!
- Grow herbs and vegetables from food waste. Instead of buying these plants in plastic planters, use leftover food scraps from vegetables and herbs to start your own plants – no plastic needed! You might need to have a bit of a green thumb, though…
- Avoid buying plastic planters. If you’re ever short on planters – for example, if you’re growing herbs from leftover food scraps – avoid buying new plastic planters! Instead, empty yogurt containers or water bottles cut in half can be easy alternatives – for free! You can also see if any other gardeners in your neighborhood have extra planters.
- Make your own plant labels. Instead of buying plastic labels for your plants, you can decorate rocks or wooden paint stirrers as a cheap DIY alternative. If you really want to get fancy, you can also purchase wooden or ceramic plant labels from a local artist, too!
As we’ve learned from the Washed Ashore Project, small steps can have huge impacts – especially when it comes to reducing plastic pollution. Even if you can’t make all of these changes in your home garden, start with one or a few! If we all do our part in lowering our plastic consumption and waste, we can all grow greener gardens.
