Plastic is everywhere: in stores, hospitals, schools, and at home. The environmental impact of waste from this material is only too well known.

But if you thought gardens and green spaces were safe from plastic, then think again. Even if you’re careful not to buy gardening supplies in plastic packaging, chances are, it will still find its way into your garden.

That said, “it’s easier to give up plastics in the garden than in the house”, according to Elke Schwarzer, biologist, blogger and author of “Un jardin sans plastique” (“A Plastic-Free Garden”).

The book proposes 150 alternatives to plastic to help tend your garden in a more sustainable way. Here are three of the author’s top tips.

1. Buy or source loose plants

Schwarzer has been running her small city garden in northern Germany since 2003. Despite its limited size, it is home to many wild plants that she also uses in her cooking.

She prefers to source her plants from local nurseries or from plant exchanges.

“At the weekly market, plants are often sold without pots, in newspaper. I have also found perennials and countless flowering bulbs dumped randomly in the forest or hidden in bushes near community gardens,” she said.

2. Make your own pots

One alternative to traditional plastic pots is to repurpose all kinds of old objects, so long as there’s a system that allows water to drain out. An old coffee pot, pans, a cooking pot, a metal can – anything goes.

You can also create seedling pots using old egg cartons, or by rolling newspaper around a wooden cylinder as a mould.

“You can make plant bed borders by cutting bicycle rims in half or, if you attach them to the wall, they can be used to support climbing plants,” Schwarzer noted.

“Ideas abound when you walk around the city, as the space available for plants is limited and the inhabitants show great creativity. In Amsterdam, for example, you can find canisters, mailboxes or old metal garbage cans on every street corner, lovingly filled with plants of all colours and sizes.”

3. Wood works

Whether it’s for your garden furniture, plant beds, or a compost container, almost everything can be made of wood – the material most commonly used in gardens before the widespread use of plastic, said Schwarzer.

To ensure the materal’s durability, the author recommends using resistant woods such as pine, oak or chestnut.