Reducing My Impact - Home Grown Vegetables!
One thing I've recently started doing to help reduce my environmental impact, especially when it comes to plastic waste, is growing my own vegetables at home. A few weeks ago, I decided to start a small garden on my patio in San Diego. I planted cucumbers, kale, and beets in a raised garden bed. In my photo, you can see my cucumber plants starting to grow and the trellis I recently put up to help support them. I've never really grown my own vegetables before, so it's been a fun learning experience.
One thing I've noticed when grocery shopping is how much unnecessary plastic packaging comes with produce. Cucumbers are sometimes individually wrapped in plastic, leafy greens often come in plastic bags or containers, and even organic vegetables can come with extra packaging. Most of this plastic gets thrown away shortly after bringing the groceries home. By growing some of these vegetables myself, I'm hoping to cut back on how much plastic packaging I bring into my home. Instead of buying a bag of kale or a plastic wrapped cucumber, I could eventually walk outside and pick what I need from my own garden.
I also like that growing my own food makes me more aware of where it comes from and how many resources go into producing it. My garden is still small, and I know it won't completely replace grocery shopping, but I think it's a good start. I've realized that reducing plastic waste doesn't always have to mean making huge lifestyle changes. Sometimes it's about finding little ways to avoid unnecessary packaging, and hopefully my garden will help me do exactly that!