Last year, my patio had just been finished in April and I planted my huge white planters with beautiful flowers, so this year I was ready to get started on that once again. Planting flowers is something that I love to do for the summer months and it’s fun to get them started in April and they have a chance to really explode with growth and blooms.
I was contacted by a new company called EcoScraps® showing me their innovative gardening products.  Since I love to plant flowers every year and was getting ready to replant for this spring, I looked at their website and really liked what I saw.  Two college students noticed how much food was being wasted when they went out to eat and decided to do something about it….by turning it into gardening products.Â
Since 2010, EcoScraps has been working to be a part of the solution by reusing this waste and keeping it out of the landfills. They want to educate and make sustainability something that’s part of mainstream America.
I would agree that this is a good idea. Â My dad has composted forever by throwing their vegetable and fruit scraps out in his garden and under his trees. Â It really does work!
I’m not a total tree hugger, but I do think we can do a better job here in the US of recycling waste products and EcoScraps has made great headway into that endeavor.
Did you know that in the US, we waste 40% of the food produced? Â It’s enough to fill the Rose Bowl every day. Â Think about that for a minute! Â I know how guilty I am of wasting food. Â I can’t count the number of times that I’ve let lettuce and other produce go to waste by not having the time to prepare it before it goes bad.
Bagged salad is one of the top foods wasted, so consider buying bagged lettuce only on days that you actually plan to use it all. Â Raising my hand here. I’m completely guilty of this one!
Here’s another staggering statistic for you.
Between 2011 and 2015, EcoScraps recycled 75 million lbs of food waste. Something else to ponder! They are matching that number in 2016 with projected recycling of another 75 million lbs of food waste, this time in just 12 months.
The amazing part of this is that recycling 15 million lbs of food waste is equivalent to keeping 500,000 cars off the road for an entire day. Â An entire day!!
OK, so why not support a company who does all of this?
I purchased a couple of bags of EcoScraps potting soil for my new planters and got to work planting.
Out came the old spent flowers from last summer. Â Here’s what happens when you put foam packing peanuts in the bottom of a big planter and fill it up with dirt and plant it. Â The roots will completely go to the bottom of the container and wrap themselves all over those peanuts until they are barely detectable. Â I threw this ball of roots away and started over with nice fresh dirt.
I added all my plants to each planter and will be having fun watching them all grow again for this summer season. Â It’s nice to get them all potted up before it gets too hot and they have a chance to fill out and grow well.
They anchor my new patio that I’m really going to enjoy this year. Â I got the patio all cleaned up for the year and ready to relax. Â I stored all the cushions for the patio on the screened porch this year and covered all with old sheets. Â It worked out great and they were all safe and sound.
I covered the vinyl sofa with my tarp, just to keep it covered and protected from debris for the winter. Â I then took off the tarp, hosed it all down with the hose to get off any pollen that had gotten in there and then let it all dry really well, before bringing out all the cushions.
I rolled up the rug and stored it on the screened porch too and that worked out well for protecting it through the winter. Â It’s an outdoor rug so holds up well to water.
I’m leaving it all uncovered for now since no rain is projected for a few days, but when the rain sets in again, I’ll get the tarp back out and cover everything again. Â It’s not so bad to do that and I want to protect it all for as long as possible.
In the meantime, I’ll be watching these beauties grow and bloom and that’s the start of summer for me! Â Potting up some new planters is a great way to kick off the fun season of summer.
EcoScraps has a cute video that shows the process of how they recycle food scraps and turn it into potting soil, so check that out for more information.
You can find EcoScraps products at your local Lowes. Â If they don’t have it in stock, order it online and then pick up at your local store. That’s what I did! Â It’s no more expensive than regular potting soil and I like that we are helping to recycle and reuse waste products.
GREAT news for my readers! Â EcoScraps is giving away a $50 Lowes gift card, so that you can pick up bags of EcoScraps for yourself to try out! Â
Enter to win by signing up on Rafflecopter and leaving a comment here.  What do you think about the EcoScraps concept and are you going to be planting any plants this year?  Planting veggies or flowers? Â
One winner will receive a $50 Lowes gift card! Â
Note: Â This post is sponsored by EcoScraps.Â
I absolutely love your back patio. The outdoor rug is gorgeous. I love the ideas of planters that have both spring and summer flowers. I don’t have a green thumb but I am trying to add beautiful color with flowers. Thank you for the wonderful suggestions. 🙂
We live in Seattle and luckily for us, they have a curbside composting system. We put all our food scraps and food soiled paper products in a bin along with yard trimmings and the whole shebang gets picked up every week and turned into wonderful compost available for purchase by the truck load or bag. Great stuff for the garden.
I don’t use styrofoam pellets any more. A local garden expert recommended empty used water bottles. Water and roots can easily get around them and they lighten the pots.
I’ve been busy; all of our flower pots are replanted and busy growing. I’m just waiting a bit longer on planting my tomatoes…
Great idea! I love any and all summer plants!
Your patio looks beautiful and I would love to win the gift card so that I can spiff up mine!
Thank you for this post. I hadn’t heard of them. I searched and saw that Home Depot, Target and Sears are carrying their products, too. I’m definitely going to use the products this year. Btw, your rug is beautiful!
Love their concept! I’m a die hard composter myself. Recently emptied my compost pile into my garden and now probably have a hundred tomato seedlings, squash, maybe a melon! So glad to hear someone is doing this on a grand scale. I’d love to try their products. Thanks for hosting the giveaway. Your patio looks amazing.
I will be looking for this product!
I would love to know the names of each of the plants & flowers you used in your container. I have 2 empty new outdoor vases just waiting to be filled & I especially love the “purpley” one you have in the middle. I would like to do something similar in mine. Could you name the flowers used please? Thanks!
HI, Ana, yes I should have shared those. The tall one in the middle is Purple Fountain grass. I have deep pink wave petunias, Purple and white verbena, yellow lantana, sweet potato vine, portulaca, and geranium. I think that’s it. Hoping these all fill in nicely like they did last year!
Your patio is stunning! I am totally jealous.
I plan to have a few flowers this year. We just got into a new home and learning the hard way that warm weather in our new state is only from about May to September if we are lucky so I plan to do vegetables next year but start them indoors around February before transplanting out.
Love hearing about EcoScraps… Just getting ready to purchase plants, so I’m thrilled to use EcoScraps for all my pots…… The gift card is such a generous offer….
What a great concept for soil. I have a lot of plants to put in this year so I will be looking for Ecoscraps when I go to Lowes.mmthanks for the post.
I love this concept and I am actually working in my yard also this weekend and getting my planters and hanging baskets freshened up.
Love your deck, the furnishings and rug are beautifully accented with the flowers you planted. All you need now is a pitcher of Margaritas or lemonade and a group of your friends for a fun weekend!!
What a fabulous concept Eco Scraps was, I’m happy to find that those students were able to follow through with their idea!! I’d like to watch the video and plan to google EcoScraps to watch it.
I have my tomatoes, lettuce, cukes, squash and herbs planted and growing wonderfully but I have yet to change out the flowers in the four big pots at the front of the cottage with summer flowers so I’ll need plenty of potting soil. Thanks for once again offering a great giveaway Rhoda.
I actually just finished planting all of my containers this morning. I’m early this year, I usually don’t plant before Mother’s Day. I do still need to plant tomatoes in my new raised beds…..waiting for them to be put together & then I’ll need to get soil for them.
The potting soil is a really cool concept. This spring I will be planting flowers in my pots on the front porch.
My boss has asked me to plant a kitchen herb garden in rectangular planters on the front porch of the Bed and Breakfast where I work part-time. This product sounds like a very good medium for those planters!
I used to compost when I lived in a house with a yard, but I live in a condo now, so I’ve given it up. I really like the idea of using this product for planting the many pots I plant every spring.
I have a worm bin and feed them a lot of my scraps, it is left from when I was teaching and none of my partners wanted to keep it going. I love my worms! My other kitchen waste goes into the green waste recycling bin with my garden trimmings. I AM a proud tree hugger, because this this amazing world deserves our love and respect. We are living in exciting times with all the wonderful innovations in the energy field. I read that our beloved bagged salads are a problem. When we used to buy head lettuce, the stores would toss it and it would decompose, but now the bags prevent it from breaking down in the landfills. I have been trying to shop more often and waste less, it’s a challenge!.
Great idea! I’ll look for this at Lowe’s.
This product sounds like something worth trying. Living in North Florida, I’ve already started getting my pots ready for the summer. Due to our mild winter, my geraniums survived and are thriving. I love your yard and blog!