A gardener is showing Instagram users a creative way to make an effective garden tower.
Garden towers — which you can either buy or make yourself — are a popular solution for optimal plant growth, and this Instagrammer is teaching the public one of the best ways to create their own.
The scoop
The narrator from the channel Salty Acres (@saltyacresnc), which has 67,100 followers and is also a company that ships "starter plants to your door," tells viewers that with a store-bought tower a gust of wind "can easily knock over all your hard work."
The Reel begins with the narrator instructing viewers to take a mineral tub and drill some holes in the bottom. He then takes a center block and places it in the middle of the tub, after which he fills the tub "about three-fourths of the way full" with soil.
He proceeds to take a five-gallon bucket and places it directly on top of the soil, which he also fills with soil before lining the bucket with plants, which are now on top of the mineral tub.
He finishes by filling the bucket with more soil and placing some strawberry plants on top, an efficient way of growing more strawberries and having them all in one place.
How it's helping
Hacks like this can make growing your own food easier and more enjoyable, which carries many benefits for both your health and the planet.
The most obvious benefit to growing your own produce is the financial savings.
According to Investopedia, a pound of organic tomatoes from Whole Foods, as of July 2021, costs $2.99, "but a package of organic, heirloom tomato seeds can yield multiple tomato plants over time, costs $3.99."
For more perspective, it's good to know that "one tomato plant may equal 10-30 pounds of tomatoes."
There are other advantages to consider beyond money, as well. Depending on where you live and where you shop, store-bought produce, including strawberries, is often wrapped in environmentally harmful plastic.
The United States alone discards about 40 million tons of plastic waste every single year, with only a meager 5% being recycled (which still requires energy that pollutes the air).
Plastic often ends up in our waterways and oceans and can take centuries to decompose, negatively impacting the health of aquatic animals and humans alike.
To top it off, studies have shown that canned and packaged foods can contain various chemical contaminants, including metals.
Growing your own veggies can sideline all these problems, and it can be quite enjoyable as well.
What everyone's saying
One commenter asked, "All strawberries? Could you mix others (i.e., tomatoes and strawberries? Or peppers?)," to which the Instagrammer answered with a simple "yes."
Another person added how they "love this idea. I ended up hating the dollar store tower. Not enough room for roots and kinda floppy."
"I love your videos!" someone else expressed.
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