We've always been peat-free and we will continue to look for sustainable compost options. We currently use green waste compost to improve our Dahlia beds.
Our field has weeds! We don't use systemic weed killers or harsh chemicals on our field or in our polytunnels. Instead we try to work with as little disturbance to the soil to encourage good soil health. We created a reservoir pond for our watering and this is a haven for wildlife as well as a sustainable source of water for our Dahlias. Healthy plants with natural predators should be able to cope with the odd munch by a snail or aphid so we try to let nature do it's thing as much as we can.
It's not easy to avoid plastic altogether in horticulture but we are trying. We use second-hand pots in our polytunnel and we take care of these so that they can last us many many years. The plants we sell are packaged in Oxo-Biodegradable Hadopots. These degrade to leave no plastic residue at all and they can be re-used too. We use wooden plant labels in our plants for sale and on the farm we use recycled plastic labels, taking good care of these to get as many years use out of them as possible. We are researching alternatives all the time, currently on trial are rubber trays for cuttings made from sustainable and fair trade rubber plantations.
Copyright © 2017 Chambers Farm Flowers - All Rights Reserved. Photographs by Ali Tuson and Corrina Lowe
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