Grow eco-friendly gardens and kids

Bonnie Plant Farm has been offering goods for beginning and experienced gardeners since 1918, but in 2008 they went green in order to do their part to help conserve the environment. Bonnie Plant Farm’s CEO notes that their green effort includes an increased use of mainly biodegradable peat growing cups, a simple step that most plant companies should take, as millions of plastic potting cups hit the landfill annually.

Other green options that Bonnie Plant Farm uses currently are more organic fertilizers and pesticides, plus they’ve got a new recycling facility at their headquarters which reuses and recycles supplies, tags, pots, and plant container trays. As time goes on they have plans to further increase their use of environmentally friendly products and methods.

One extra cool aspect of this company is that they hold an annual Third Grade Cabbage Program. Each year, the company goes into third grade classrooms in schools in all of the lower 48 states that have signed on for the program and gives away one O.S. Cross (huge heads) cabbage plant to each child. Students in each third grade classrooms get to plant their very own cabbage, take care of said plant then harvest. At the end of each annual program, Bonnie Plant Farm awards a $1,000 scholarship to one student in each state. One of the 2008 winners and her giant cabbage is shown above! Wow right.

Bonnie Plant Farm hopes to increase both an interest in gardening and the environment with the program and in recent years they’ve involved over 1 million kids in the program. That rocks because kids who dig into the earth learn to care for and adore it. Right now the 2009 event is closing up, but you can visit the Cabbage Program page to learn more and see how kids in your area can get involved.

Bonnie Plant Farm grows and ships all over the country, providing starter plants to some of the biggest mass merchandisers in the US, including Kmart, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, and Fred Meyer, as well as independent farm supply and hardware stores. You can visit their website to find a dealer near you.