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Soil, Pots, and Pricing Information
Soil
We grow the majority of the plants that we carry*. The organic soil we use, from germination to full grown plants, is from Organic Mechanics. This organic soil is delivered in "super sacks" which are 60 cubic foot bags. The soil is a mix of: coconut coir, pine bark, rice hulls, compost, earthworm castings, and OMRI fertilizer. WE ARE COMPLETELY PEAT FREE in our own growing. Read more about the problem with peat here.
Our soil stays up off the ground so as to avoid any critters on the property.
*We bring in plants from other reputable growers as well, some use peat and some don't. All are Neonicotinoid-free.
You can also purchase bags of Organic Mecanics soil from us. We carry a compost blend and a container blend. Both are organic and peat-free.
Pots
The vast majority of our pots and trays are made from recycled plastic. We happily take back any of our own pots to wash and reuse. We also love to reuse our plastic plant tags. Pots and tags can be left in front of our checkout shed in the tagged location. We CANNOT take pots from other growers, those will sadly be thrown in the trash if you leave them, see notes below. Please return those to where you purchased them.
Pricing
What goes into our pricing? We've done a comprehensive analysis of the market and have thus priced our plants competitively. We take into account that our plants are grown in organic peat-free soil in recycled pots, and grown from seed. We are not certified organic but we use all natural growing practices.
Please note that actual pot and plant sizes and shapes will vary. Shrubs in the same sized pot as a perennial will cost more as they generally take longer to reach maturity. When we are deciding if a plant is ready to go out into the world one of the first qualifiers we look for is a solid root structure. Growth above "ground" level will be variable species to species and time of year. Plant sizes, prices, and availability subject to change.
Perennial Pricing
1 or 1.25 Quart pot
* roughly $10.50
generally first year plants
2 Quart pot
* roughly $14
generally second year plants or older
2.5 Quart pot
* roughly $16
generally second year plants or older
1 Gallon pot
* roughly $20
generally second year plants or older
Environmental Impact of Plastic Pots
The typical garden center/nursery contributes to the problem of the overwhelming number of single-use plastic garden pots in the United States. Approximately 4 billion plastic pots are produced and used every year in the U.S. horticultural industry, using 1.66 billion pounds of plastic. And only a tiny fraction of this is recycled.
Since black plastic pots are dyed with carbon inks they are not recyclable, black plastic is also not scanable by sorting machines. This means they are a single-use plastic, taking around 450 years to decompose. If you are wishful-thinking-recycling and putting these pots in your household recycling, they are being thrown out by someone else down the line. You can read more about this problem in the links below.
Additional Reading
Plastic Pots and the Green Industry, Production, Use, Disposal and Environmental Impacts by Marie Soulliere-Chieppo
The Truth About Recycling Plastic Pots, from Here by Design.