Build It & They Will Come

Building a Community Plant Stand

The post is fairly typical, “I have too many of “x” plant, how do I get rid of these?”. And of course, the typical replies are to smother the plant with any number of plastic or paper materials which then has a few layers of rock or wood mulch spread over. Another commonality is the suggestion to spray the plant with some toxic, potentially carcinogenic chemical that will live for years within the soil. I completely get that you dislike this plant for some unknown reason (whatever it may be) and you absolutely want it gone immediately.

What if you could….

• prevent herbicide and pesticide run off into our Florida water aquifers
• save other members in your community money
• reduce the waste sent to landfills
• get outdoor exercise and vitamin D
• get rid of an unwanted plant in your yard
• reduce the amount of pollution spread by helping find plants locally instead of trucks shipping them from non-local nurseries
• help feed families in your area
• get rid of excess plant seedlings you ran out of space for
• get rid of excess chicken/duck eggs from your small coop

Well, believe it or not the answer to all of this is by building a community stand and placing it someone easily accessible on your property where individuals can come take unwanted plants. You simply pot up a plant, place it in the plant stand and check on it occasionally to place anything that has been taken.

If you are concerned about the cost of plastic pots, you can contact local nurseries and big garden stores to see if they ever have a surplus of small pots that you could get for free. During spring and fall, you can find cheap small pots at the Dollar Tree or Dollar General in a sleeve for very little cost to you. You can sign up for freecycle or check your facebook marketplace listings, occasionally free pots can be located on there.

You can expand these stands to include free pots, free seed packets, any unwanted gardening supplies you want to give away and even vegetables from your garden. If you have a neighbor who frequently lets their citrus rot on the ground during Fall, ask them if you can collect it to give away at your plant stand. Some talented wood workers have even incorporated little free libraries where they give away gardening books they no longer read.

We might not be able to save the world by using a community plant stand, but imagine the impact of giving away annual vegetables that will turn into food that can supplement a struggling families already tight grocery budget? You can do that. You can feed your local kids without much effort from you. Now, imagine if every suburban community across the United States put a plant stand in every community? That’s the potentially huge impact in food scarcity that we should be striving for.

You can do an image search on most if not all search engines for “community free plant stand” and there should be numerous images to give you an idea on what you can use to make your own stand. If you search for “free plant swap” on facebook, numerous options should pop up for you to go visit yourself or announce your own plant stands opening.

As someone who once had a plant swap community stand, I’d like to share some wisdom to help you on your journey towards running your own.

• If you want to limit the number of plants someone takes, you will need to place a sign indicating a limit. But don’t be surprised if someone comes by your home and cleans your entire plant stand out in a selfish act.
• Consider putting it in a location where your home camera can pick up any thievery that may take place.
• Because of the above, you need to keep your stand away from the front or side entrances of your home to discourage any additional thefts.
• Make sure your HoA will allow you to install a plant stand in your community, as many have outlawed this in their by-laws.
• Find a way to secure the plant stand itself in the ground, there have been actual thefts of the stands themselves along with the plants.
• Make sure you are giving all the plants a generous drink each day unless they are sitting in self watering trays, even then you want to make sure they have plenty of water.

While there are some down sides to the community plant stand, the beneficial impact you have will far outweigh any minor issues that you may deal with. Be sure to let your local friends and even church acquaintances know that you give away free plants, so they can join in on the impact.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask or do a search online where you will find a wealth of information about community plant stands.