Make gardening plastic free

Spring is a beautiful and bountiful time for our gardens but such a lot of our garden preparations each year involve single use plastics.

Most of us probably have a stash of plastic plant pots lurking in the shed and with very few alternatives when buying plants we need to keep these out of landfill if we can. If you have more pots than you can re-use then consider donating them through the Wotton Freebies Facebook page or take them to Nailsworth Garden Centre for recycling.

If you don’t have a compost bin and buy your compost in plastic bags then why not switch to buying your compost from Leaf and Ground in Dursley who offer a compost refilling service. There is also a fantastic initiative in Thornbury – Thornbury Community Composting invite you to drop off your green waste at their facility which they turn into compost. You can take your bags and buckets along and fill up with compost for a donation. If you need large quantities of compost or topsoil then Soils in Kingswood is worth a look.

For plants the best way to go plastic free is to grow from seed. There are many local seed swaps during the year and Stroud Community Seed Bank run a brilliant project saving local seed and making it available for donation. Check out their website for stockists.

Again, Wotton Freebies Facebook page is a great place to find or donate surplus plants and if you’d like more space to grow than your own garden then Wotton's Knapp Road Allotments currently have availability.