Earth Day: Starting Your Garden in a Mindful Way

Boom, it's Earth Day! I mean, every day should be Earth Day because we live on this planet and should take care of it each and every day but we can embrace the date on the calendar and use it as a catalyst to make some changes in our every day lives. We've been trying to make small adjustments in the Propah Household, as we go along, to make less of a footprint in our home. (recycling, consuming less, reusing, DIY with what we have instead of buying new, etc). No single family is perfect but we sure are trying! One of my favorite things about the Spring is starting my garden. In the past, I'd bought trays upon trays of the plastic seed starter kits, which #1 are wasteful of resources and #2 don't do that great of a job anyhow... I mean, you have to get those seedlings out and I can never seem to transplant without a few little plants losing their lives. *pours one out* This year, I decided I was going to do things differently. With the help of my little sous gardener, we started our little garden with things I had "hanging" around the house!

Items you can use to start seeds: I prefer items that will break down when planted in their "forever home"

Toilet Paper Tubes
Egg cartons (cardboard)
Stale Ice Cream Cones
Used Ziploc bags and wet paper towels (they started beans like this at daycare, just tape 'em to the window!)
Newspaper, think paper mache!
Egg shells, interested to try though would require me not to break them fully, which would be a challenge.
Old Muffin tins (just slip in cupcake papers!)
Old Ice Cube Tray
Old K-cups, though they won't breakdown, is certainly a way to re-use!

Items you can use as planters:

Milk Cartons or jugs
Soup Cans
Soda Bottles
Plant Sacks
Plastic Water bottles
Pretty much anything, just be sure you account for drainage!

Items you can use that are mindful:

Organic soil: it's a touch more expensive but if you're growing edibles, it's great for the environment and your peace of mind.
Reusable plant sacks and planters. Keep using them for years and years!
Also, When buying plants at your garden center, look for ones that are in recycled container or better yet ones that will break down when planted. You'll find a lot of brands offer this option!

Obviously, these are just a start and there are so many ways that you can make your garden more Earth friendly than it already is, I mean, it's already pretty earthy-crunchy! We love this time we get to spend together and it's a real treat to be able to recycle, re-use and reduce when we're creating our garden!

Kneeling Pad, Garden Tools Caddy, Plant Sack, Gardening Gloves, Garden Twine

Do you have any "hacks" for starting your garden at home that keeps the environment in mind?