Why keep using plastic plant pots when there are biodegradable alternatives that save you time and space and help save the environment...
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| Gift box of six plants from the Hairy Pot Company
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'Gardeners want pots that go straight into the ground and they love the idea of not having to throw plastic away.'
There's an awful lot of plastic lurking among gardening products. While some items such as water butts and watering cans are useful and long-lasting, plastic pots we accumulate when plant shopping are really excess packaging that we could do without.
Alternatives to plastic
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| Plant coir and wood fibre pots straight into the soil
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Things are beginning to change. Two Hampshire-based companies (the Hairy Pot Plant Company and the Kitchen Garden Co) now provide a wide range of plants in coir and wood chip pots, which can be planted straight into the soil with no wastage.
Pots made from recycled coconut-shell waste
The Hairy Pot Plant Company, based near Winchester, sells 150 different cottage garden plants in pots made from coir, the recycled waste from coconut shells. Its greenhouses are full of everything from lupins and delphiniums to hostas and sedum.
'It seems obscene to sell anything so green in something plastic,' says the company's MD, Derek Taylor. 'These pots are good for the garden, the gardener, the environment and wildlife. We want to sell plants, and it's not right to sell them in plastic.'
Two years ago, the company trialled 12 plants in coir pots to see if they would work. The reception was positive because, it seems, gardeners want pots that go straight into the ground and they love the idea of not having to throw plastic away. 'We first showed them at the Woking Show last year,' says Derek. 'Everyone was so interested that all we did was talk about coconut fibre pots. We're pushing the boundaries of what's happening in horticulture. Not only does it look right, it also grows a great quality plant.'
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| The pot biodegrades in the soil
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This year, the Hairy Pot Plant Company supplies garden centres in the south of England – mainly outlets of Hilliers – with 20,000 cottage garden plants in coir pots. There are plans to produce herbs, vegetable seedlings and hedging in coir pots next year. 'We are obviously interested in anything that's an environmentally-friendly aspect of gardening,' says Andy McIndoe, Hillier Garden Centre director. 'The Hairy Pot Plants have gone down well. People like the idea of planting the whole thing and they look very appealing.'
Plant gift boxes delivered to your door
The Hairy Pot Plant Company can also deliver a box of six plants delivered to your door. There are currently 15 different types of box to choose from, including Beginner's Fluff (a box of six perennials for novice gardeners at £23.70) and Hot and Hairy (a mix of red and orange flowering plants for £25.95).
The gift box is made of recyclable cardboard and features comic instructions on the plants' care for the postman's, as well as the gardener's, benefit including: 'Help, we're upside down! If you can see my hairy bottom, there's something wrong!'
Coir plant pots tried and tested
Gardens Monthly editor Liz Dobbs tried out the Hot and Hairy box which comprised:
Achillea millefolium 'Paprika';
Aster novae-angliae 'Andenken an Alma Potschke;
Dianthus deltoides 'Flashing Light';
Geum 'Mrs J Bradshaw';
Heuchera 'Palace Purple' and
Tanacetum Single Red. 'I love the fact there are no plastic pots or packaging to dispose of after planting,' says Liz, 'although they still have plastic labels! The plants were good quality, established well and all are growing away successfully. Careful probing with a pointing trowel down by the roots indicate the coir is starting to break down into the soil.'
Coir and wood fibre pots
The Kitchen Garden Co of Waltham Chase in Hampshire sells herbs, vegetables and fruit canes in coir or wood fibre pots, which can be planted directly into the soil.
'From a growing point of view it's great to plant straight out,' says co-founder John Kennard. 'It's better for the plants not to be pulled about. But maintaining the environment really matters too. Although some plastic pots are recyclable, many of them go to landfill. Food miles are important to us too. If you're growing your own fruit and vegetables, there aren't any food miles involved in your food.'
John and his wife Catriona produce 17,000 pots a year, which are sold at farmers' markets in London and across the south of England. 'People really love the ethos,' says John. 'And they love the way the pots look too.'
Coir and latex pots and coir composts
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| Award-winning rice husk pot
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Fertile Fibre, based in Withington in Herefordshire, makes pots in a mix of coir and latex, formed in a warm mould for strength and durability. The pots biodegrade in the soil within three months. The company also provides coir composts as an alternative to peat – they claim it has good water retention, does not blow away easily and, because coir comes from the discarded husks of coconuts, does not result in the destruction of its natural habitat.
Rice husk mesh pots
KinderGarden Plants picked up last year's New Products Award at Birmingham trade show GLEE (Gardening, Leisure & Entertainment Exhibition) for their biodegradable plant pot made out of rice husk. Unlike the coir pots, the rice husk pots aren't intended for planting in the soil, but can be added to the compost heap and will rot down with the rest of the garden waste.
'For years KinderGarden Plants has reused and recycled its plastic display and delivery materials to minimise environmental impact,' says general manager Ian Cole. 'However, our net pots have concerned us for a long time. After much searching, we believe that we've found the product in the form of our new rice husk net pot, which has all the convenience and practicality of plastic, but is totally biodegradable and from a sustainable source.'
Starch bin bags in supermarkets
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| Compostable bags
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Both Sainsbury's and Tesco are now selling compostable bin bags made of starch, allowing you to bag up your organic waste and put the whole lot on the compost heap to rot down.
Plastic sheet mulch alternatives
There are now plastic sheet mulch alternatives such as
Weedblock Natural derived from corn. Others are made from wood fibre, or you can avoid spending any money and simply use old newspapers to mulch your garden.
All of this is important, not just to keep the costs of gardening down, but to increase recycling and continue to protect the environment. UK councils are encouraging recycling to prevent waste going into landfill sites. In the UK we recycle 25 per cent of our waste, an improvement on previous figures, but still way behind the rest of Europe. So, for every plastic pot, bag or sheet mulch that we avoid buying, it's a little bit less landfill to worry about.
denotes Subscriber-only content | Sunday 18 May 2008 | Help | Glossary 
