When I first pledged to myself not to allow any new plastic into my garden, it took a while to dawn on me that I might have to stop buying plants.
I love a good flower show or plant fair as much as the next gardener: all those gorgeous perfect flowers, inspirational plant combinations and ravishing displays of fruit and veg. But you try buying a plant from one without also taking home a plastic pot.
I deliberately went on a hunt for a plant sales stall which *didn’t* sell plants in plastic pots at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show last year and found just one – a cacti and succulent grower which offered its beautifully grown samples in pretty clay pots. That was it: one solitary stand among the sea of plastic. And that’s at the RHS where they’re supposed to be driving higher levels of sustainability.
There are many ways of getting your hands on plants without the plastic, or the peat, or the pesticides that usually accompany commercially produced stock. You can take cuttings from the gardens of friends and family; you can sow a wide variety of perennials from seed; or you can divide up more established clumps to make more plants for free.
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