40: Should You Use Plastic to Grow Food?

Welcome to School Gardens with Ease! I’m your host, Leila Mireskandari, and in this episode, we’re diving into an important and sometimes controversial question: Should we use plastic to grow food?

In This Episode:

• Why I still use plastic party cups to start seeds in my Oasis programs.
• The dilemma of balancing environmental responsibility with practical classroom gardening.
• The importance of sub-irrigation and why paper, clay, or biodegradable pots don’t work in a classroom setting.
• My ongoing search for a viable alternative to plastic that is moisture-resistant and flexible.
• How my philosophy of making a green handprint outweighs an unavoidable footprint.
• A call to action for manufacturers or innovators to help find a better solution.

Key Takeaways:

• Environmental responsibility is a priority, but practical limitations in schools mean we sometimes have to make trade-offs.
• Over or under-watering is one of the biggest causes of failure in classroom gardening, and sub-irrigation is the best way to prevent it.
• Plastic is currently the best available option for sub-irrigation, but I’m always on the lookout for alternatives.
• We should strive for solutions but never let the lack of a perfect option stop us from growing food and making a positive impact.

If you or someone you know has a solution to replace plastic in classroom seed-starting, I’d love to hear from you!

Let’s continue the conversation. You can reach out to me through my website or social media.

Thanks for listening! See you next week for another episode of School Gardens with Ease.