My vegetable garden beginnings
In a few short weeks, Aaron and I will be moving back into our condo. We had planned on renting a cheaper place and keeping our current tenant, but a couple of things came into sharp focus when we got back from our year of travel: 1. Boston got crazy expensive! I mean, it’s always been pricey, but this last year was sort of my tipping point where I was like “Forget it! If we’re going to pay this much to rent, I’m getting a beach house in Santa Barbara.” 2. Taxes. Did you know you have to pay regular income taxes on your rental income? We did not (oops), and our accountant kindly informed us that we’d be taking a big loss for last year, which made renting out our condo for a second year not worth it.
I’m anxious about taking on our mortgage because we started a new business, but I’m also over the moon excited about having our own space again. Our own kitchen! Our own laundry! Our own deck and tiny yard! This will be our first summer at our house because we moved in during the fall, then booked it across the country in the spring, and so we have grand plans to build some raised garden beds and maybe even a small greenhouse…maybe. For now though, we’re taking baby steps, which means a handful of very manageable potted plants.
We took a trip to Walmart earlier this week to pick up some EcoScraps organic potting mix and tomato, herb and vegetable plant food to kick things off on the right foot. What I love about EcoScraps is that in addition to being chemical-free and poop-free (yeah!), for the last six years they’ve been working to make sustainability a lot more mainstream. Between 2011 and 2015, they recycled 75 million (!) pounds of food waste, and they’re matching that number in 2016 with projected recycling of another 75 million pounds. This is really important because in the United States, we waste 40% of the food we produce. Crazy, right? Unfortunately, instead of going to feed people, it sits in landfills producing methane, which is a whopping twenty times more harmful than CO2. So, by reusing this food waste, it stays out of our landfills, and we can put it towards something really positive: growing gardens. That’s a cause I can get behind 100%.
To start us out, Aaron and I planted a few of our favorite greens: organic kale, dill, sun gold tomatoes, and brussels sprouts! I’m especially excited for the brussels sprouts. The plan is to keep the baby starter plants in containers and get them going strong, then (gently) transfer them to a raised bed once we’re able to build it in June. I cannot wait for salads from our little garden!
A big thank you to EcoScraps for sponsoring this post! Keep en eye out for their lawn and garden products at your nearest Walmart, and check out their new YouTube video to learn more about growing gardens, not landfills.
