Sure, I probably could invest a ton of money up-front to purchase clay or metal pots, or better yet, hire all of the local woodworkers to commission hundreds if not thousands of wooden boxes made from repurposed barn wood, because it would be aesthetically eco-friendly. Then I could charge ten times as much, because at that point you’re not buying the plant, you’re buying the container with a plant included. I’m not in the business of selling pots. I’m in the business of selling plants, and I want these to be accessible and affordable to the majority of the population. Purchasing containers to sell the plants adds some cost to the plants, and most containers end up in the landfill anyway.

But what does this have to do with sustainability? What does that even mean?

What’s a person to do? So far, I have a few ideas.

Would you prefer an upcycled or pre-loved pot?

I’d like to offer the option to purchase plants in an upcycled container at a discount – we could call these “trash-to-treasure” pots. It should go without saying that any used containers I would use to pot plants for sale would be properly cleaned before use. It just wouldn’t be fancy or pretty. What you’re buying is what’s growing inside the pot. The container is just a temporary means to transport the plant from my home to your garden. I believe sour cream containers – unlike nursery pots – are recyclable. Why nursery suppliers aren’t making pots out of the same food-grade plastic as a standard, I don’t know.

At first this may sound unusual, because we’ve become accustomed to packaging as part of the product. Even when it comes to handmade goods, sellers would invest lots of money into the presentation. If we think about it, this is contributing to the problem. A generation or two earlier, people were buying plants in tin cans. I’ve bought plants from roadside stand sold in red solo cups. Goods were wrapped in brown kraft paper or butcher paper tied with twine. Would it be out of the question for a simple, backyard nursery to go back to the basics?

I will take your used pots.

I invite everyone to bring me their non-branded nursery pots, as long as they’re in good condition. Even better, I’d love to get my own pots back if you’ve purchased from me in the past. I absolutely understand if you love them as much as I do and choose to keep them for your own use. The whole purpose of this is to keep the plastic out of the landfills as much as possible. I will figure out some sort of a reward system based on the number of containers returned or given to me to make it worth your while. At the end of this page is a list of the types of containers I would gladly accept.

Used pots should be empty from soil (dump them in your own yard) to avoid potential transmission of pathogens such as Asian jumping worms or other pests. Used food containers need to be cleaned – washing with dish soap is sufficient. I can handle adding drainage holes. I do not take milk jugs – these do not last more than 1 year in sun before becoming brittle to the point of shattering. Save them for your own winter sowing, and recycle them afterwards.

BOGO plants in a shared pot

Sometimes I may opt to sell multiples of a plant (especially smaller species) in a single pot for a slightly higher mark-up, but it would be less than purchasing them individually. If you intended on buying multiple, these pots not only take up less space, they use less plastic.

What should you do with the tags?

I do use plastic tags, which I’d started out hand-writing the information, but now use a thermal printed label. You can save the tags for your records. Alternatively, peel the label off and reuse the tags if you wish, or return them with your pots.

Below are a few other ways that The MagiK Garden focuses on sustainability as a fledgling native plant nursery.

Reduce Excess Waste By

• purchasing potting media and amendments in larger bales whenever possible. More soil in a bag means I don’t need to buy as many bags.
• purchasing higher quality pots, flats, carrying trays, crates, buckets. If I cannot avoid using plastic, I can make a conscious effort to purchase ones made from a thicker material, ideally one that is recyclable, so that it does not end up in the landfill after a single growing season.
• sourcing 2nd hand supplies whenever possible. If it is something I need to purchase, I will check places like the “Buy Nothing” group I belong to, the local marketplace, neighborhood boards, yard sales. Sometimes people need to get rid of something I can use in place of a purchasing a new item, keeping it out of the landfill and reducing how much I contribute to the consumption of new plastics
• avoid using landscape fabric – ever. There are very few situations where it comes in handy, and none of them involve plants. There are other ways I’ve protected my pots from the ground. I’ve used outdoor pool rugs on impermeable surfaces, which are far more durable and have lasted many years. I also source free, 2nd-hand heat-treated wooden pallets free from chemicals which can go in the compost when they’ve reached end-of-life.
• Grow seedlings in communal pots or plug flats as much as possible, avoiding potting up to containers until they are ready for sale. This also helps to reduce watering needs if I utilize self-watering containers that do not drain-out and evaporate.
• Purchase heirloom-quality or well-made garden tools that are built-to-last and maintain them regularly instead of purchasing poor-quality tools that bend and break under stress (American-made, small business preferred).

Reduce Energy/Water Waste By

• Utilizing LED grow lights (set on a timer) instead of incandescent lights for any plants that are best started or grown indoors. These have been just as effective for me as incandescent bulbs. Considering that I cannot find incandescent bulbs that last more than two weeks, they also keep waste out of the landfill.
• Taking advantage of a growing space (i.e. basement) that remains a constant temperature and high humidity throughout the year instead of needing to site and build a greenhouse that may require heating. The cool temps and high humidity also mean plants do not need to be watered as often.
• Managing storm water. Water conservation is a key factor when designing a garden with sustainability in mind. On the property, the food garden is designed using a series of swales and berms to collect and absorb rainwater. Since the soil there is a hard clay, as long as the water has nowhere to go or evaporate, it is highly moisture-retentive. With native plants, you can design rain gardens (plants that can handle ponding) as well as dry gardens (drought tolerant plants).
• Harvesting and storing rainwater in portable containers to water seedlings. I wrote a blog post about this.

I’m sure you heard many times that traditionally maintained lawns are an incredible drain on resources. As a society we’ve spent billions on fertilizers, herbicides, and gasoline for lawnmowers to keep the lawns trimmed. A focus on sustainability as a nursery means looking for real-world solutions to society’s horticultural problems. I tag the plants I sell if I know they can handle foot traffic.

Reuse anything possible!

• I don’t throw anything out until I’ve used it beyond its intended end-of-life and it‘s no longer functional. For example, I save and repurpose empty soil bags to store used* potting mix or as trash bags for invasive species.
  * as long as there are no plant pathogens present, sterile potting mixes can be reused indefinitely. The top gets scraped off to go in the compost to avoid potential weed seeds. I use this for growing on plants, for plants I am growing to use in my garden or mixed with garden soil in my planters outside. All plants potted for sale go in with a fresh mix as a precaution. By reusing potting mixes for in-house production, I also avoid needing to purchase as much bagged potting media. Potting media no longer suitable for this purpose goes in the compost.
• Source 2nd hand supplies whenever possible. This serves a dual purpose: the supplies I obtain are kept out of the landfill, and any materials I can reuse means less new plastic I need to purchase. I’ve collected bags full of used nursery pots, plug flats, carrying trays and propagation trays from other nurseries that were destined for the landfill. I use heat-treated (chemical-free) wooden pallets to keep my pots off the bare ground, which I source from a local hardware/garden store. I’ve purchased bulb crates from a nursery that was clearing out excess inventory.

Sustainability needs to be a community effort to be effective. This is why it isn’t enough to reduce our own waste. We need to consider accepting resources 2nd hand as well as sharing what we no longer need with others. Only by working together can we help each other keep excess waste out of landfills. Imagine if nurseries and the community worked together to cycle nursery pots instead of buying new?

Bring me your pots!

I accept any and all of the following (in good condition):

• my pots from plants you purchased from me
• used nursery pots (no planters, please)
• plug flats
• 1020 trays
• propagation flats/trays
• bulb crates
• possibly other things (ask me)

Good condition: I will be reusing these to sow more seeds or pot up plants either for sale or to continue growing on, so I need them to be functional. No cracked pots, trays or flats please.

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