Tucked away on the banks of the Merri creek in Brunswick is the CERES Permaculture and Bushfood Nursery. Situated within the 10ha site of the CERES Community Environment Park, the nursery is a non-profit concern with a clear environmental message.

Nurseries are commonly regarded as "green businesses", but just how green or environmentally friendly is the average nursery? Shelves are often stocked with highly toxic pesticides and herbicides as well as high phosphate fertilisers sometimes manufactured using environmentally unsound practices.

So it is refreshing to come across a nursery that is setting a new standard, practicing organics, promoting public awareness and education as well as providing an alternative choice.

Ceres Nursery boasts a 'no chemical' policy. Plants are propagated and grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides. Organic solutions are used whenever necessary and some of the friendliest chooks you will ever meet wander around the nursery, eating snails, slugs and other garden pests. Through companion planting and a host of predatory insects, birds and lizards, the nursery staff find no need to use chemical controls at all. Customers are offered an organic solution to all their garden woes and often choose a non toxic alternative.

The chooks and staff weed the nursery. All weeds along with other garden waste and staff lunch leftovers go into the worm farms. The worm farms are made on site at CERES and all the nutrient rich castings produced by the worms are used to fertilise the display gardens.

Water conservation is an issue that CERES nursery has made a very high priority. Sprinkler systems use an enormous amount of water and can often be ineffective and cause large quantities of nutrient run off. The plants are all hand watered, maintaining healthy root systems and equally hardy plants. The nursery has tanks set up to catch water from roof surface areas and all sink water runs straight onto the vegie gardens.

This is the sort of nursery where there is not an Agapanthus or Arum Lily in sight. There is a strict policy on environmental weeds and the nursery will not sell them, but will provide customers with an equally viable and aesthetically pleasing alternative. We don't use excessive packaging or buy plastic bags instead you are offered a reused box from the CERES Cafe or a reused bag or many people simply do the obvious thing and bring their own bag!