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Q. IS OUR NURSERY ( ISLANDSCAPE ) A “SUSTAINABLE” BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT?
A.
This is definitely the newest trend being professed in America today, lets hope it’s not a trend and that people are finally realizing, it’s time to make some changes in the way we all live. Since we started Islandscape (the nursery) 8 years ago, we have always been sustainable mostly out of necessity, but also because of our personal philosophies on living as a human on this incredibly unique and diverse planet that we all call home. I will list below some of the practices we embrace at our business in order to be what we consider a “sustainable” establishment.
- From a monetary standpoint: We did not take out some unrealistic loan to buy the real estate where our nursery now resides, instead we used revenue from another piece of property we had just sold, it was a risk but a manageable risk, (we now own the property outright).
We have grown with demand, the nursery is located in an area with a small population, though a high percentage of gardeners, so over the years we have listened to our costumers needs and have purchased according to demand, not like many businesses that just go out and stock tons of stuff that they have no idea if it’s going to sell or not.
We had very little “start up” revenue when we took on the site in 1999, and did it need work, a magic wand would have been handy! Instead we worked our butts off and had some help when we could afford, but for the most part it was a matter of give and take, each year we grew, we made more improvements with the money we made from the prior season. And whenever we could we used materials salvaged from other projects, if they were still in good shape. The best score was, all of the clear cedar we salvaged from an almost new project that we had been asked to dismember and then given the wood. That same wood was used to build almost all of our current plant bench frames, and the rest was used on other misc. projects around the nursery.
- From a recycling standpoint: Though we are trying use email availability whenever we can from our growers, many of them still use the faxed lists, which means lots of paper at the peak of plant season. So before it goes in the paper recycle bin, we fold it up and use it at least one more time to write customer’s purchases on when we’re outside writing up their plants, (the backs of the small ,square calendar pages works well for this too!)
Plastic plant labels are reused whenever possible, and our pricing labels are pulled out after purchase and reused for the next plants to be priced. Plastic pots and flats are reused by us for potting at the nursery or returned to our growers through the season. However, we do not except these items if they have not been purchased at our nursery, because of the threat of pests and standardization, so please, NEVER LEAVE YOUR TRASH OUTSIDE OUR GATES (and yes, sadly this does happen on occasion.)
The next time you think your getting a good deal from one of those big, box store so called garden centers, or even a lot of the hardware stores that try to pretend they’re a nursery, go in the back where they dump their trash. If it doesn’t make you sick, it should at least make you think twice about where they are dumping all of those poor dead plants, including all the plastic pots and trays. If plants could speak, their groans of suffering would be so loud you couldn’t even cope with being among them. We are very proud to know the plants we grow and sell to our customers are happy and healthy. Compare our approx. 1% plant loss to 30% at most non-nursery retailers. And when sadly we do have to dump a pot, the plant and soil go in the compost buckets, and the pots get recycled.
Anyone who gets mail knows about the disgusting amount of junk that comes these days, it’s just plain gross. We make a constant effort to make it stop, but somehow lots gets through especially in the business we’re in, product catalogs up the kazoo! Fortunately our transfer station accepts them for recycling, but what a waste of every kind of energy you can imagine. Technology has helped some with most venders now available on line, which is great!
Islandscape is a firm believer in the three “R’s”, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
- From a water usage standpoint: Let me start by stating the fact that our 10,000 sq. ft. nursery uses on average, a 10th of what the restaurant on one side of us uses and ½ of what the mixed use building on the other side uses annually. This shocked us after keeping track one year, and the lots are about the same size. Usage of non-leaking hoses, quality hose ends, and hand watering all contribute to this conservation effort. A highly efficient, timed system is used on our larger trees, and monitored often to insure proper amounts of water are being used. A rainwater catchment barrel serves us well for watering our indoor, potted plants; they appreciate the quality of this type of water, and further conserves ground water usage. Strangely enough, most plants in cultivation are killed by over watering instead of under watering; therefore ours plants only get watered when they need it, not just because we think we better do it. This practice improves overall plant health and conserves water.
- From a purchasing standpoint: First and foremost, we are a plant nursery, items we choose to sell at our establishment, are therefore related to this and must serve some purpose. Many so called garden centers these days look more like trinket stores rather than something related to gardening, we are not at all about that. I’ve been gardening and growing food almost my entire life, and by now I feel like I have a pretty good sense of what works and certainly what doesn’t! Goods purchased are always chosen for quality, durability, and effectiveness. Value, where it’s produced, and how it’s produced in relation to the environment, are always considered. Unfortunately, American consumers being hung up on more and cheaper is better, is making our purchasing more difficult all the time. Lots of cheap junk is about as far from sustainable as you can get!
Another thing that has helped us survive in a very seasonal business is, we pay attention to what and how much we purchase to resell each season. It’s probably the trickiest thing we’ve had to learn, after all, it is retail and you have to have enough to make a profit, but over buying can do you in very quickly. Listen to your customers (well, most of them) and grow with demand, even when all of those incentive programs are telling you to buy more, it isn’t always the best way to go!
Purchasing environmentally safe, yet effective products for our customers to use in their gardens. Thankfully, this is more realistic now than it used to be. Many items we stock are O.M.R.I. approved and we’re always on the look out for more organically derived fertilizers. Thanks to products like “Sluggo”, we no longer stock any metaldahide based slug/snail bates. And corn gluten instead of synthetic based pre-emergent (which are proven ground water contaminants) is all we sell, which is very effective if used properly. Peat moss is off our list too as a general soil amendment, it’s too precious for that and there are many other more renewable products available, like coir fiber and wood based products, which we feel better about selling for that purpose.
Plastic containers are probably one of the most disturbing realities of our industry. From a wholesale growers standpoint, it’s an essential element of the entire process. But we smaller retail nurseries have some options now, and we like that! We now grow and sell many of our small plant selections in organically based pots, like “Ecoforms”, pulp fiber, clay, and even wood baskets; we also make many of these container selections available to our customers.
- In closing I will say this, if everyone would just think about the way they consume and how it impacts everything else, I think it’s a step in the right direction, don’t forget to be honest with yourself! Here are just a few more steps we take to call ourselves sustainable:
- Use of several skylights in our indoor retail section for light, in summer we paint them with greenhouse paint to keep it cool inside.
- Operating with minimal waste, and efficiency being a priority.
- Pest control is done mostly through monitoring on a daily bases; the safest, most effective products are used when necessary.
- Customer education offered on soil preparation prior to planting, appropriate plant choices, efficient water usage, and general maintenance.
- Purchase of new, relatively fuel efficient, box truck for our pick-ups in town, we try to always have full loads and not go anymore than we have to.
- And by far the most fun conservative thing I do, is drive my Vespa to work when weather permits!
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