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I hate plastic in my garden
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Posted by Eric_in_Japan z8 Japan (My Page) on Fri, Nov 4, 05 at 12:10
I just wanted to vent a bit and ask if anyone else feels the same way.
Around here, there are hundreds of greenhouses, all covered in plastic, and hundreds of piles of old, dirty, UV degraded greenhouse covers (when the people don't decide to burn them- usually with the wind blowing towards my house). I ride my bike past fields covered with black plastic mulch- I just hope it is the new biodegradeable type- but I doubt it. My neighbors wanted to grow tomatoes. So they built a rain cover for them out of plastic. Everywhere I look, I see plastic in peoples gardens. Has everyone around me forgotten how to garden without it? Even the seed packets give instructions- "Start in February in a plastic tunnel."
I am pretty sure that preaching won't help, and the Agricultural Co-op (Japan Agriculture) seems to own large amounts of stock in the companies that make the greenhouse plastic (and pesticides, and herbicides...).
Maybe I should just write a book for people and explain that the natural season for strawberries in Japan is not in January!!!! (and people wonder why they cost $20 a pint)
Thanks everyone. I just had to vent a bit.
Happy homesteading!
Eric in Japan |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: I hate plastic in my garden
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Hello Eric,
I bet that they export most of them anyways and they dont even taste the same. Franckly, I fear the direction the worlds agriculture is taking. Its all about global economy, not healthy food.
At my home town we have a strawberry festival. They used to have it when the strawberries were ripe. now they have it just befor strawberry season and import the berries. I wont even go anymore.
Marie
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RE: I hate plastic in my garden
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Marie I enjoyed reading about your work with horses on your magic pasture.
Eric for what it's worth I agree wholeheartedly - plastic is a pestilence. What is the real long term cost of using plastic for greenhouse covering over glass? I'm not convinced PVCs and HDPEs are safe either - we're looking for an above-ground cistern we can trust and afford - some sites say they leach chemicals. It's discouraging. Even rubber garden hoses if they're made from recycled rubber. |
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