Ask the Experts: What Changes Can Home Gardeners Make to Help the Planet? – Gardenista

If you care about the environment, you’ve likely already banned the use of insecticides in your garden. Take it a step further: McMackin and other experts we spoke to say that gardeners should purchase only plants grown without insecticides, too. “Pesticides like neonicotinoids work inside a plant, making the plant’s own tissue toxic for insects. Growers use them to keep plants pest-free in the nursery, but they can persist for years in plants and soils,” says McMackin. The best way to avoid these toxins is to ask growers and retailers if the plants were grown without pesticides. “If they can’t say for sure that the plants are safe, you’ve got to do the hardest thing imaginable, and leave those plants on the shelf,” McMackin says.

4. Become your own nursery.

This year, grow it yourself. In addition to propagating plants from cuttings or divisions, get into the habit of collecting seed from plants you’ve grown, says Marissa Angell, a landscape architect based in Brewster, New York. “These practices are doubly beneficial,” she says. “You can replenish your stock for free and it will help you avoid the plastic pots that are standard fare in retail garden centers.” (See Gardening 101: How to Sprout a Seed.)

5. Opt for green mulch.

Ditch the bark mulch: Both Rainer and Angell want you to replace traditional mulch with “green mulch” (aka “living mulch”), such as clonal spreading native groundcovers. “Using ‘green mulch’ to cover bare ground around the base of your taller plants enriches the soil and suppresses weeds,” says Angell. “Plus, traditional shredded bark mulch doesn’t retain moisture as well and can remove nutrients from your soil as it decomposes.” Rainier points to native clonal spreading ground covers like groundsel (Packera sp.), Robin’s plantain (Erigeron pulchellus var. pulchellus ‘Lynnhaven Carpet’), and green and gold (Chrysogonum virginianum var. australe), which are all spring-flowering, shade-tolerant species that grow under other bigger plants.