Started in 2016, Eco Garden Systems has a long history of gardening, gardening innovation and gardening for seniors.
Our History
Over 30 years ago, the original garden was constructed for the family’s matriarch when she announced that she could no longer bend, stoop and crawl around to tend her beloved garden.
This announcement was met with typical Midwest determination – the building of a wooden raised bed garden (to resolve the bending/stooping issue) over a common cattle cistern (to reduce the labor needed to get water to the garden). This extended her ability to garden for many more years and created a variety of “unintended consequences”:
- Friends and neighbors also wanted raised bed gardens – 20+ additional wooden gardens were constructed
- The cistern not only reduced labor but plant roots found their way into and above the cistern (continuous water supply) and the moisture/oxygen layer between the soil and the reservoir created perfect growing conditions with interesting results:
- Faster plant growth (2x)
- Faster to maturity and flower
- 50+% increase in production
- The raised-bed nature of the garden limited access to most ground level pests
- The wooden construction did not last – the wild temperature swings experienced in the Midwest (along with both external moisture and the impact of the cistern) caused the lumber to rot more quickly and even more learnings were achieved:
- The time and money cost of rebuilding the gardens was extensive and exhaustive
- Rotting wood creates a haven for insect infestation
- Different woods could not be used as they would leech chemicals into the soil
- Exploration started for a better total growing process that incorporated all of these learnings
This all led to the creation of the Original Garden – a self-contained raised bed garden with five major benefits:
Our Mission
While we started Eco Garden Systems to solve a problem for aging gardeners, we have evolved into a “Gardening Driven” company – our goal is to provide education, guidance and a “Path to becoming a Master Gardener” for anyone who wants to #GardenDifferent.
We are not a traditional gardening company – we believe that everyone should raise some of their own food but many can’t based on:
- Physical Capabilities – just like our matriarch, many folks can’t get down on the ground and garden. Our raised beds solve for this issue.
- You live where the “too’s” prevent quality gardening – too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, soil that is “too poor,” a yard that is “too small”, too much hardscape, too inconvenient. An Eco Garden solves for all of these.
- Gardening is perceived as being difficult or time consuming. With an Eco Garden, we make gardening easier by taking the guesswork out of gardening. You can essentially fill the reservoir, fill the garden with the proper soil, plant your seeds and watch the miracle of growth happen.
We want to help build communities across the country through the shared purpose of gardening.
From family to neighbors to neighborhoods and communities to schools, senior centers, community centers, military bases and other commercial applications, we feel that by getting people to engage around a common goal (growing tomorrow’s dinner) and using raised bed gardens as the platform, we achieve a higher purpose. That purpose is community – and all of the benefits an engaged community can bring.
Why Eco Garden Systems?
Community
We strive to bring people together (family, friends, co-workers, class mates, etc.) through the shared community of gardening.
Sustainability
With a system designed to use 65% less water and “forever” construction, an Eco Garden is focused on creating an organic growing opportunity immediately. Manufactured and assembled in the USA, an Eco Garden can help everyone put sustainable food on the table
Performance
The Eco Garden Air Gap combined with the water reservoir helps plants reach maturity 50% faster than in traditional gardens. Our process also provides a growing environment that can produce up to 50% more product per plant making an Eco Garden one of the most efficient (and effective) gardens available.
While you may spend more on an Eco Garden, what you get is a premium user experience from the time you order until the time you harvest your first (and all subsequent) crop. Let us help you experience the difference raised bed gardening can create in your life!
Gardening in the United States
Some “Fast Facts” about gardening in the United States:
- The #1 hobby across the country
- One out of every three households has a garden (~42 million households garden)
- The 65+ population is the fastest growing population segment in the United States
- Over the next 40 years, the 65+ population is expected to more than double from 46 million today to 98+ million by 2060
- Most of these people will have had gardening as a hobby for part of their lives
- The desire for healthier and more nutritious foods is growing across all age groups as the long-term negative impact of highly processed foods becomes apparent
- The percentage of residents who are overweight has held steady at ~30% since the 1960’s
- The percentage of obese residents has more than doubled from 12% in the 1960’s to 30+% today
- The advent of organic foods and a renewed focus on natural foods have created a desire amongst most Americans to live and eat better – this is where gardening can help both as a form of exercise but also as a way to enhance a healthy diet