We all dream of having an abundant garden that leaves our kitchen overflowing with produce. But one Redditor was in a little over their head when they decided to grow 20 bell pepper plants.
The poster, left aghast after a particularly fruitful harvest of bell pepper plants, took to Reddit to warn other gardeners who may think growing 20 of them is a good idea.
"Warning!" the post starts. "Do not grow 20 bell pepper plants. You will give away sacks of them, get tired of prepping them, get sick of eating them like apples. It will be all you eat in order not to waste. AND THERE WILL STILL BE MORE!"
The post, which was accompanied by a photo of the harvest featuring about 30 bell peppers laying on a table, originally appeared in the r/gardening subreddit. The forum is a place for new and seasoned gardeners to share their successes — and challenges — while getting helpful advice.
The activity in the subreddit shows the popularity gardening has gained in recent years as more people turn to more sustainable and cheaper ways to access food. With the rising price of groceries, growing your own fruits and veggies saves money.
At-home produce gardens can also help out the environment. From cutting down on packaging waste and pollution caused by transportation, it also cuts down on food waste (unless maybe you planted 20 bell pepper plants).
While Redditors were amused by the poster's bell pepper blunder, they provided a lot of helpful tips on how to offload some of the overspill.
"Dice them up with celery and onions and then freeze them in quart sized bags," one commenter suggested. Others noted how easily the peppers freeze, whether mixed with celery and onions or not.
Others suggested checking if local soup kitchens or food pantries accept homegrown produce.
"I run a school garden that grows produce especially for our local food bank," someone said. "They LOVE the fresh produce. It's soooo easy."
And while not all food pantries can accept non-packaged items, others noted that the people in line can.
"The people standing in line will!" one Redditor explained. "[Our food bank] wouldn't take ours because of the no bag, so we opened our trunk with a sign they could read before going in 'get free fresh veggies here.' We had a bigger line than the church donation. Shame that they can't do it."
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
