Here at Pardalote Patch we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment and do things in a more sustainable way. Reducing our consumption of single use plastics is one of our major focuses here. We start with getting our growing media delivered by the bulk truckload and hand shovelling it into reusable drums for storage so that we reduce the amount of plastic bags we use. Plastic plant pots are also a major contributor to the amount of rubbish that goes into landfill. We currently re-use plastic pots for growing out our plants and are trialling a pot for retail sale that is made from coconut fibre, so can be planted straight into the ground with your plant and will totally biodegrade. We are also busy trying to source pots made from bamboo fibre to trial for a more durable, but still biodegradable alternative to plastic pots.

To fertilise our growing plants we have a few different organic based fertilisers we are experimenting with. Seasol, Charlie Carp and Dynamic Lifter are our favourite pelletised slow release fertilisers to use in our potted plants. We also use Seasol and Charlie Carp liquid fertilisers as required.

We try to avoid the use of pesticides where possible, but when required we use products like Pyrethrum, Neem Oil and a bacterial product called Dipel.