A Gardener's Lament

I love to garden. It is one of life's joys and I love an abundant garden, filled with rambling roses, and profusely blooming shrubs and trees. Yet, sometimes I despair at the amount of toxic substances and plastic that seem to be a pre-requisite for modern gardeners. Even with the concept of gardening ecologically now so entrenched in our social conscious, it astounds me we are still able to freely buy so many gardening related materials that are not sustainable, nor even safe.

At the risk of being labelled a gloomy gardener, I am astonished that we can still freely purchase quantities of chemicals such as glyphosate for weed control, And despite Rachel Carson’s book, The Silent Spring, sounding the alarm bells since the 1960’s, toxic chemicals abound. Here in Australia, it continues to be used along our roadside verges and public green spaces by individuals wearing no protective equipment and without any signage warning others that glyphosate is being sprayed.

Various toxic pesticides and fungicides are also still readily available for purchase by any gardener, whether they have experience in the various applications or not. Perhaps I’m a purist with unrealistic expectations, but I marvel at the range of products that line garden centre shelves packaged in single use plastic, ready for consumption by inexperienced gardeners in their gardens.

In fact, along with a plethora of chemicals, it is impossible to avoid single use plastic when purchasing products and/or plants from garden centres and nurseries. I try very hard to avoid plastic but I struggle to re-use and re-purpose all the plastic that comes with even organic products for our gardens. Organic fertilisers, mulch and compost are all packaged in single use plastic, which is not suitable for re-cycling and almost impossible to re-purpose! And not one of my beautiful roses, bare-rooted or potted, has come to me without its plastic wrapping or pot! So clearly, I am adding to the problem as a modern gardener too!

I try to recycle all of my plastic pots, and even though we have only recently moved to our new home, I am finding myself housing quite an impressive pile of used plastic pots. As a gardener who also likes to propagate as much as I can, I tell myself these pots will all be re-used numerous times, yet each time I add to the pile of plastic pots, I do wonder where it all stops!

And while all this plastic refuse grows, whether in neat piles in a corner of my garden, or in land fill via our household bins, my garden is starting to take shape. There are now garden beds filling up with fruiting trees and shrubs, along with profuse vegetable beds and herb gardens. Bees are cavorting over the flowering roses and shrubs, while spiders create fantastical webs that sparkle with dew drops. We have created a pond where frogs are happily breeding tadpoles to enchant the grandchildren. And there are on-going plans for more gardens and arbours for flowering climbers to provide scent, colour and shelter for small birds and insects.

So, while I will never stop gardening organically, there is a conundrum, because I lament that even a sustainable garden contributes its share of unsustainable materials to landfill. Of course, I believe it is still preferable to garden with a conscience than not to garden at all.

Heaven forbid that we give up the idea of growing flowers, herbs and vegetables because of the plethora of plastic that comes with modern gardening.

But until the multi-national companies that churn out pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and artificial fertilisers for the home garden consumer can be convinced (ie; forced by state induced policies) to manufacture more sustainable products and packaging, home gardeners are left with a Hobson’s choice when it comes to gardening sustainably.

Yet, even with all this conflict, the joy of gardening and the benefits it brings, is still a worthy pursuit, don’t you agree?

I'd love to know what you do to minimise the use of plastic and chemicals in your gardening experience?

xx Lillian