How Office Gardens Are Boosting Employee Wellness, One Plant at a Time

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Education, How To, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.8 • 883 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the push to get people back into offices, there’s a glaring question floating around the corporate world: how do we make the office a place people actually want to come back to? As someone who believes in the impact of plants not just on spaces but on people, this question has me wishing of a world where every office has its own green vegetable garden out back.

Does it sound too good to be true? Well, it’s already happening. In this episode, I sat down with Josh and Troy, the founders of StartOrganic, a company that helps employers give that opportunity to their employees. They’ve created office gardens for companies like PayPal, eBay, Intuit, and Apple, and what they’re doing is so much more than planting tomatoes.

In this episode, we learn:

[03:35] How StartOrganic started
[06:54] How did they end up designing gardens for PayPal?
[10:31] Scaling up with corporate programs
[12:05] What are the first steps in consulting with businesses on garden installation projects?
[14:00] What's the most unique place they’ve installed a garden?
[14:50] Make gardening fun with Espoma Organic’s all-natural products!
[16:26] What is the primary focus of StartOrganic?
[19:44] How they tailor their corporate garden programs to client needs
[22:11] PayPal’s evolving garden program
[24:56] How does StartOrganic help employees care for their corporate garden?
[26:54] Measuring the success of corporate gardens
[29:17] Heartwarming employee stories
[32:10] Can small offices start corporate gardens?
[34:42] What are the popular crops and seasonal offerings
[36:33] Where can you find StartOrganic?

Mentioned in our conversation:

How have office gardens impacted employees' well-being?

Check out the full show notes and blog here!

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Espoma Organic

Visit espoma.com to find your local Espoma dealer or check my Amazon storefront.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, plant friend, quick announcement at the top of the show. I wanted to let you know I'm offering two
0:04.6	different free online classes that are 45 minutes each that are designed to help you get the most
0:11.7	out of your spring this year. I want spring and summer 2025 to be your best house plant growth
0:19.0	seasons yet. And the way that you'll sign up for these classes,
0:22.7	which are completely free, is by going to Growingjoy with Maria.com slash class. There's two options.
0:29.4	The first up is the spring house plant boost, supercharge your plant growth in three simple steps,
0:34.9	and this is a 45-minute class all about how to utilize spring
0:39.3	to set your plants up for insane growth this year. And then the second class is called the
0:44.8	ultimate guide to moving indoor plants outside and three mistakes to avoid. A lot of people
0:49.9	move their plants outside in the spring, which is fabulous, but there are massive mistakes you
0:54.1	can do that can result in some pretty bad stuff. So this class is going to go over how to do that.
0:58.7	If you're interested in either classes or both classes, you can go register for free, completely
1:04.7	free. Each class is 45 minutes at Growingjoy with Maria.com slash class. That's growing joy with Maria.com slash class.
1:13.1	I cannot wait to hang out with you live and share my tips.
1:23.3	With more companies enforcing back-to-office mandates,
1:26.8	employee wellness, and happiness has never been more
1:29.2	important. And studies are showing that a happier, less stressed workforce is a more productive one.
1:34.6	But the question all of these employers are asking themselves is how do we create a workplace
1:39.8	that people want to return to. Enter corporate gardening.
1:48.7	So imagine going to work, commuting to your office, and being able to step away from your desk into a lush vegetable garden right at your office in the middle of your workday.
1:53.8	Today, I'm talking to the founders of Start Organic, a company that helps employers give
1:58.5	that opportunity to their employees.
	...

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