Environmental and Sustainable Growing
Growing plants should be good for the environment. Sadly, the industrialisation of horticulture has resulted in massive environmental damage.
This is why, for more than 20 years, we have done things differently at Gwynfor.
Listed below are the steps we’ve taken to ensure growing our plants does as little harm to the environment as possible.
peat-free growing
peat used in horticulture degrades sensitive habitats and releases large amounts of CO2. In our time at Gwynfor, the UK has missed three deadlines for stopping peat use in horticulture.
we have always used peat-free composts.
pesticide-free growing
the problems of pesticide use are well-known. Pollinators have suffered worldwide because of inappropriate pesticide use.
we have always used biological controls.
chemical-free growing
we believe that using artifical fertilizer is bad for the environment. The manufacture of fertilzer is another source of CO2 emissions.
we only use Soil Association approved composts, which contain natural plant nutrients.
Sustainable Consumables
In addition to the growing of plants there are all the supporting activities that surround it. We try to do everything as sustainably as possible.
horticultural plastics
plant production uses immense quantities of plastic. We do all we can to minimise plastic use and to ensure that it is properly re-cycled of at its end-of-life.
Plastic plant pots are particularly controversial. Yes, we still use them see this paper to discover why. To minimise plastic use we also send many of our plants out bare-rooted, too.
FSC timber
we use Forestry Stewardship Certified timber, or rarely PEFC timber, for our structures and benching.
electricity
all our power comes from our own solar panels or from 100% genuinely renewable energy from Good Energy. We also use this power to charge our electric vehicle.
web hosting
the Internet is the world’s largest fossil fuel powered machine! We use a web host powered by 100% renewable energy.
