Garden Supplies from Good Companies
Where else to shop beyond Amazon, Home Depot, and other big corporations
As I shiver from an April cold spell, I plan for my garden both indoors and out waiting for the warmer months. I have been working through a whiteflies issue and starting a new indoor seed project, and I need some supplies and I’m not going to get them at Amazon or Home Depot. So this week, I’m looking at ~Gardening Supplies~ and where else to shop.
But first - Behavior Exercise
Try shopping somewhere different than your typical routine in the next two weeks. If you normally buy clothes new, try going to a thrift store. If you normally buy something online, try to buy it in person instead. If you haven’t joined a Buy Nothing group already, join the group and look through what people are offering. If you normally go to a big box store to get something, see if there’s a local store option that would also have what you’re looking for. It doesn’t matter as much what the change is (beyond shifting away from corporate behemoths), it’s about making a change at all.
In order to set yourself up for success, research your options ahead of time and make sure you allocate enough time to enjoy the experience. I tend to underestimate how long things will take, so if I’m shopping at a new local store I give myself buffer time so if things take a little longer for whatever reason, I’m not annoyed but calm. When you’re not solely focused on getting the task done in the fastest way possible, it invites the possibility for friendly conversation. I got an amazing book recommendation from a local store clerk when waiting for my order to be filled, and had I been annoyed at the amount of time it was taking I probably never would have asked him about the book he was reading.
Whatever way you choose to shop (or not shop) differently, the goal is to show yourself that you can change your habits successfully. Even if you end up not finding what you were looking for, you tried something different and actually went and did it! That is huge. You’re doing it girl!
Category Deep Dive - Gardening Supplies
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: This is a category where if you have a local hardware or gardening supply store as an option, definitely go there first. Soil is something that you don’t want to deal with shipping, but most hardware stores have at least the basic soil and you can always add things to it to get it to the soil mix required for whatever you’re planting. Larger outdoor gardening items can be expensive to ship as well, so start local and go from there.
Buying Direct: If there’s something you’re looking for in particular, go to the brand’s site to see if you can purchase directly. Another great option for buying direct is Etsy, you can find really cool and unique pots from individual sellers.
Free/No Purchase: There are so many ways to NOT shop for gardening supplies. Check out your local Buy Nothing group for pots, seed starter kits, containers, etc. I reached out to my local group to get five 5-gallon buckets for my new gardening project because people definitely have these lying around and if I don’t need to spend money, I won’t! You can also reach out to greenhouses/gardener companies to see if they have any supplies you need that they don’t want anymore, they go through a lot of stuff. If you search cheap gardening hacks or similar terms you’ll find ways to use items around the house like egg cartons as seed planters. Even asking a fellow gardener friend if they have any pots/etc that they don’t use anymore and are willing to part with can be fruitful.
Shopping options: I looked specifically for supplies, not the plants or seeds themselves to keep this more focused.
The good guys! My gold star for larger companies to shop from are ones employee-owned, but these can be pretty rare. However, I am excited to say there’s not only one but TWO options for employee-owned (or similar) within the gardening supplies space!
Gardener’s Supply Company (Gardeners.com): 100% employee-owned since 2009. Based out of Vermont they have a few local stores in the region, otherwise the majority of their business is online. I found tons of options for outdoor gardening on their site, I was able to purchase Bonide Insecticidal Super Soap for my whiteflies issue, and this weekend they are offering free shipping on any order. Their selection for pots and indoor accessories are a bit more limited, but if I need random items like the super soap that my local hardware store doesn’t carry, I’ll definitely be shopping from here.
Ace Hardware: Despite being a nationwide brand, Ace Hardware is actually a retail-owned cooperative which means individual store operators are also part owners. Technically this isn’t employee-owned and more store-owner-owned, BUT the group of Ace Hardware stores in the DC region that I used to frequent has been employee-owned since 2021. I absolutely LOVE Ace Hardware - their employees are super helpful, they have a great selection of plants including cool and unique ones and they have everything else you might need hardware-wise.
The big players. There are so many ways to avoid these guys, but if you are severely limited on local options there are a couple that are…not the worst.
Home Depot: Publicly traded. One of Home Depot’s co-founders died last year at 95, but not before spending at least $1 million to get Trump elected. As for the company itself, it contributed $1 million dollars to the “School Freedom Fund” which is setup to target Texas Republicans who didn’t vote for Governor Abbott’s ploy to subsidize wealthy families’ private school tuition with taxpayer funds. On top of that, Home Depot has a “Home Depot PAC” which does support both Democrat and Republican candidates, but why do they even have a PAC in the first place for a home improvement store? It’s also partially funded by employees, which seems weird when their founders and executives have enough money to throw around - why are they asking their employees? They also have a “Home Depot Votes” website which seems to only give voting resources, but given all their other political action I don’t trust it. Run, run far away from this orange box supporting an orange monster.
Lowe’s: Publicly traded. Often considered the more liberal option for home improvement retailers, Lowe’s still pulled back on their DEI program last summer before Trump was even elected. They also contributed to both Harris and Trump during the 2024 election, and they don’t treat their store employees well based on posts from Glassdoor and Reddit. If there’s not a local option, or an Ace Hardware near you, and your ONLY options are between Home Depot and Lowe’s, I’d shop at Lowe’s. If you have other good options, go there instead.
Tractor Supply Co: Publicly traded. They caved to right wing pressure last summer and ended their DEI and LGBTQIA+ programs despite having a decent sized base of queer shoppers. I am from a rural area and I used to love Tractor Supply Company, but…fuck ‘em.
Costco: Publicly traded. While I would say that Costco is not the worst, it’s not the rosy story that often gets portrayed online. Approximately 8% of their workforce is unionized, and when the Teamsters union threatened to go on strike they raised the pay by $1 each year for the next three years for non-union employees. Sure, that seems great and nice at first, but keep in mind that’s an approximate 3% raise each year when prices and inflation are skyrocketing. On top of that, union employees enjoy more benefits like higher wages, pensions (vs. 401ks, and given the recent stock market performance pensions are a lot more secure!), and better paid holiday/time off policies. If you’re in California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey or New York and can shop at a unionized Costco store, please do!
As a side note, I love that I found a Harvard Business Review article that talks about how Costco shows that paying and treating your employees well actually works for your business objectives. Who knew! 🙄
TruValue/Do it Best: TruValue used to be a retail-owned cooperative similar to Ace Hardware until 2018, when it was bought out by private equity firm ACON investments. TruValue filed for bankruptcy in 2024 (surprise surprise after being acquired by private equity) and was then bought out by Do It Best. Do it Best is a similar retailer cooperative, but it’s unclear what the fate of the TruValue cooperative owners will be as they still had 30% ownership in TruValue before declaring bankruptcy. I would say both are probably fine to shop at if you don’t have an Ace Hardware.
What I chose
As alluded to above, I bought the white fly pesticide I needed from Gardeners.com (my local stores don’t have it), and I reached out to my local Facebook group about the pots I needed. I’m excited, this is my first time trying to source something from a Buy Nothing group.
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments and what you’d like me to tackle next. Follow me on TikTok for recap videos, and subscribe to see more category deep dives with behavior exercises every Friday. Thanks for reading <3