Agnes Stevenson is determined to rid her garden of junk
Determined to rid her garden of a jumble of junk, Agnes Stevenson seeks advice from Fiona Thackeray, author of Plastic-free Gardening
With the last of the leaves now flowing gently to the ground, the garden has been revealed in all its winter beauty. I love the silhouettes of the beech trees, the glitter of frost and the bronze glow of the hedge.
What I like less is the appearance of the plastic pots and empty compost sacks that seem to dominate the garden now there’s less to distract the eye.
I’m determined to rid my plot of at least some of this jumble of junk, so I’m going to take all of my unwanted plastic pots to my local Dobbies Garden Centre, which has just introduced a new recycling scheme, but that still leaves me with plastic sacks, plant labels, old tools with plastic handles and a whole lot of other paraphernalia that I don’t know how to get rid of without damaging the environment.
Or at least I didn’t until last week, when I got a sneak preview of Plastic-free Gardening, a new book by Fiona Thackeray who runs Trellis, which is Scotland’s therapeutic gardening charity.
Fiona has always been aware of the environment but it was the sight of a turtle, dying on a beach in Brazil from plastic ingestion, that persuaded her she had to take action.
Back home she started talking to experts in the fields of plastics and recycling and she investigated plastic-free alternatives for everything, from seed trays to gardening clothes.
She painstakingly plotted a path through the confusion that surrounds what local authorities will accept in their recycling bins, and she put together practical advice that allows gardeners to reduce their reliance on a material that, while it fulfils many useful functions, causes long-term damage to the environment.
“Progress is being made towards finding alternative materials and to recycling the plastics that are already out there, but it’s not always clear to gardeners if they are doing the right thing,” said Fiona when I caught up with her at the Trellis headquarters in Perth.
“I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty, but by giving gardeners the best possible information I hope I can help them to find alternative ways of avoiding or reducing the amount of plastic in their gardens.”
“Small steps can make a big difference if we all take them,” added Fiona, who has replaced the paper cups used at Trellis events with ones without a plastic lining.
Plastic-free Gardening is published by Trellis Books, £11.99