bloomin

If one of your resolutions for the new year is to live an eco-friendlier life, just look here for some ideas. You can take a myriad of actionable steps to help save the planet from the ever-changing climate, and we’ve listed a few of them below. From supporting climate organizations to donating old clothes rather than tossing them, there are plenty of ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Donate Your Clothes

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, then you need to think about the harmful effects of fast fashion. With shopping holidays such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, you need to think about what you’ll do with the clothes you hardly wear. Rather than tossing them in the trash, lend them as hand-me-downs or donate them to charities such as Purple Heart. Textile waste is a huge problem, so do your part to counteract that by donating pieces you no longer wear.

Walk and Bike More

For years, people have talked about how harmful vehicles are to the environment. This new year, do your part to cut down on those negative effects by walking and biking more. The more often you decide to use your own feet instead of a car, the more you work to eliminate those hazardous gases. If you can’t walk or bike, at least try to carpool or use public transit instead.

Embrace a Minimalist Lifestyle

Minimalism is a great way to incorporate your goal of reducing your carbon footprint into your lifestyle. Decluttering your home and living off less won’t just create a more organized home—it will also help your community and the environment.

Stop Eating (or Eat Less) Meat

You may not buy into this if you’re a hard-core bacon-lover, but if you really want to reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment, then going on a plant-based diet is a necessity. In fact, eliminating meat consumption is one of the most effective ways to combat climate change—even over walking and biking. Red meat production consumes 11 times more water and causes five times more emissions than the poultry industry—and even poultry isn’t great for the environment. Even if becoming a vegetarian truly isn’t in the cards for you, try adding a few meatless days into your diet instead.

Plant a Garden

Finally, try planting a garden. Even if you live in an apartment, planting some greenery around the house is a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint. Pot some flowers, plant some trees in the backyard, start an herb or vegetable garden—the choice is yours. There are plenty of fun ways to start a garden, and doing so is even easier when you use Bloomin’s seed paper to start off.

Pollinators are an essential part of a healthy garden. In many cases, these creatures fly from flower to flower of their own accord, naturally helping the plants reproduce and flourish throughout the seasons. Unfortunately, your garden may need a little help sometimes. Here’s how to attract pollinators to your garden.

Do Your Research

Many different kinds of pollinators might visit your garden, but the most popular ones are usually hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Find out which creatures are native to your area as well as which plants they like. It’s best to have a variety of pollinators visiting your garden, so try to have as much variety as possible among your plants. 

Plant Wisely

What you plant has a big impact on who visits your garden. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds need nectar as well as pollen, so be sure to plant nectar-rich flowers to attract them. Plants that bloom in various seasons are also useful. When you’re arranging your garden, place blooms close together so that they’re easier for pollinators to spot. Trying to choose the perfect seeds or location for your garden can be overwhelming, but with so much information online and innovations such as Bloomin’s seed paper, getting started has never been easier.

Avoid Pesticides

It’s not all about the planting, either. Part of keeping a pollinator-friendly garden is creating a safe environment for them. If you have all the right plants and you’re still wondering how to attract pollinators to your garden, try cutting out pesticides. Many pesticides, including organic ones, are toxic to pollinators. In fact, not using pesticides at all is one of the best ways to protect honeybees—some of the most important pollinators out there. If natural pest control solutions don’t work for you, at least limit your use of pesticides. Only spray in the evenings when pollinators aren’t as active, and avoid spraying any blossoms that would attract pollinators.

There are many benefits to adding houseplants to your home. From improved air quality to improved mental health, plants can contribute a range of positivity to a household. Plants add to the ambiance of a home in ways other décor items can’t. Practical, eco-friendly, and adorable, plants are the perfect addition to any home. One tricky thing about plant ownership: plants can be high-maintenance and require care to stay in good health. Check out these tips for healthy houseplants.

Choose the right potting soil for the plant

Choosing the correct potting soil is the first step to fostering healthy plant growth. Succulents and ferns will not thrive in the same soil in the wild, so they won’t in your home either. This means you may have to invest in multiple kinds of soil if you have or plan to have plants from differing regions or climates. Do some research into what minerals are beneficial or harmful to your individual plants.

Bonus Tip: If you’re not sure what kind of plant you have, take it to a local greenhouse or plant shop to get a professional’s opinion. They can also help you pick out a good soil.

Give them the perfect amount of sunlight

Plants need the sun to grow. Place your plants strategically in your house to make sure they’re getting the proper amount of sunlight. This also varies with each plant. Some plants require full sunlight while others are happier in a shady area only receiving sun during certain parts of the day. If your home lacks lighting, plants are a perfect reason why you should add more natural light to your home.

Bonus Tip: Rotate your plants every week to ensure the plant gets even sunlight. Plants tend to lean toward the sun over time, so to keep your plant standing straight turn it every so often to evenly distribute the sun exposure.

Water them according to their individual needs

Some plants require a lot of water while others can’t handle much at all. Look up your specific plant and learn the best watering practices for it. Some plants thrive with small doses of water multiple times a day, while others can go weeks without water. An easy way to tell a plant needs more water is dry soil, brittle leaves, and brown discoloration. If a plant is overwatered the soil may begin to grow other substances, the leaves may begin to wilt, and the plant may start to die.

Read or talk to your plants

Believe it or not, reading and talking to your plants helps them to stay healthy and facilitates growth. The carbon dioxide you breathe out is like food for your plants. Reading to them or talking to them helps them stay healthy.

Bonus Tip: You don’t need to go buy books specifically to read to your plant. If you’re already reading a book for yourself simply sit near the plants and read out loud. If you’re looking for a fun way to add more plants to your home, seed bombs are an exciting way to encourage planting more plants. Each comes with a fun game and grows different plants from tiny seeds.

Earth Day is on April 22nd this year and it’s time to start preparing your company for the upcoming celebrations. While this holiday may not receive the same fanfare as Thanksgiving or Halloween, it’s an important holiday to celebrate nonetheless. You don’t need to go all out and plant an entire orchard, but there are several simple ways your company can celebrate Earth Day in style. If your company is currently working remotely due to COVID-19, consider utilizing these tips as a planning guide instead. Many of the changes you make in celebration of Earth Day can be carried out all year long. Even if the festivities are a bit delayed and you’re not back in the office in time for Earth Day, your company can still celebrate consciously.

Create a recycling program

One of the best ways your company can celebrate Earth Day is by instituting a recycling program that can be carried out throughout the entire year. Begin by conducting a waste audit within your company. This will provide insight into the type and amount of waste your company produces regularly. From there, you can appoint a “green team” to help monitor and reduce the amount of waste your company produces.

Outfit your office space with an abundance of recycling bins and create a system for the disposal of larger office items. Consider seeking the assistance of a professional waste management and recycling service to ensure that all waste is disposed of safely and efficiently. This simple act can help reduce your company’s carbon footprint significantly.

Volunteer as a company

Volunteering as a team is a great way to make a visible difference in your community. Many non-profit organizations seek community volunteers for community-wide cleanups. Organize a group of your coworkers and volunteer your time to aid their efforts to a greener future. You can help clean up a local park, highway, or river, or can put your efforts together to help plant trees or a community garden. If you’re unable to volunteer your time, consider collecting donations for a local non-profit instead. You can also gather donations to a world-wide relief effort, such as the World Wildlife Fund or Conservation International.

Replace paper and plastic products

It may seem like an insignificant change, but reducing your company’s consumption of single-use paper and plastic products can actually help reduce your carbon footprint significantly. Replace all single-use utensils, plates, and cups with reusable utensils instead and invest in a company dishwasher to ensure that everything stays clean. Try to choose an EnergyStar model if possible, as these models utilize far less energy and water than many other brands. Consider replacing paper documents with digital files as well. This will not only reduce the amount of paper clutter in your office, but it will also limit the waste your company recycles on a daily basis.

 Family Fun Gift

Send seed paper from Bloomin for families to grow a garden together while at home. They can grow into wildflowers, herbs, or vegetables. It’s a great way to get outside, be with the family, and take care of a plant and watch it grow

Springtime is the perfect time to delve into some yard work. We have to pull the weeds, pick up branches, and get our gardens in order. This year, try something a little different with your gardening technique. With these wonderful ways to boost yields in your garden, you’ll have flowers, veggies, and fruits in no time. Check it out!

Improve the Soil

The soil you plant your seeds in plays a big role in their growth success. If you plant seedlings in dry, dead dirt, then you won’t get your desired results. Composting helps put essential nutrients back into the ground, but you can also get some additional help by mixing up a nutrient solution and using that to feed your seeds. The fertilizer you choose leads to healthier soil, which leads to healthier roots and plants.

Look into Companion Planting

Some plants grow best alongside other plants. When they’re planted together, these plants can help increase overall productivity. For example, weeds can end up smothering the growth of slower crops. But when you plant lettuce between rows of carrots or onions, the lettuce smothers the weeds and allows the slower crops to establish. You can research suitable partners for your chosen crop and make the most of companion planting.

Stretch Out the Growing Season

If you want to grow multiple crops in your garden, then you need to stretch the season. Most people start this by growing seedlings in the house before the start of spring and then transplanting the seedlings to the garden. You don’t need to do this with every crop but doing this with a few will give you time to start on other crops.

In a similar sense, choosing plants that thrive will also help broaden your growing season. Growing what thrives in your soil and climate will result in stronger growth and a better harvest for you.

Utilize the Vertical Space

If you can, try to fix vertical trellises and poles on the sides of your garden. This will help you train vines to move upward rather than spreading out along your garden bed. Better yet, it helps save you space so that you can plant more and have a greater chance of success. When you utilize all the space in your garden by using vertical space and planning out the garden before you dig, you’ll greatly increase your garden’s yields. Try planting some of our Bloomin’ seed paper and see what magic you can grow in your garden with us!