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A gardening education brand turns practical content and audience demand into a large direct-to-consumer product business.
founder says it now does tens of millions a year
"Why would I not just be the brand who would sponsor my own content?" Viewers kept asking about a metal raised bed in Kevin's garden, so he imported one, put up a "really crappy Shopify store" and an Instagram Story, and sold out in two weeks.
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Kevin Espiritu started gardening around 2013 as a hobby and registered a blog without expecting it to become a company. He focused intensely on researching gardening topics and writing articles, while participating in forums and sharing links. The blog reached roughly $400 per month, then about $2,000–$3,000 per month after two or three months of concentrated work, and $4,000–$5,000 monthly later in 2016. He went full-time; that first six-month period produced $70,400 in revenue. Revenue rose to $75,000 in 2017, $225,000 in 2018, $540,000 in 2019, $2.8 million in 2020, and $7.3 million in 2021. The company began as a media brand, earning from sponsorships and brand deals. When viewers repeatedly asked about a corrugated metal raised bed shown in his garden, Kevin decided to sell the product himself. Without product-development experience, he began by distributing an existing product that was not yet available in the United States. A basic Shopify store and one Instagram Story sold out the first batch within two weeks; by 2019 revenue was split roughly evenly, about $250,000 from media and $250,000 from products. Today Epic Gardening combines educational content, product sales, product testing, and seed development. The founder describes current revenue as tens of millions of dollars a year.
For Epic Gardening, the first customer acquisition engine was useful, specific gardening education. Kevin spent long days researching topics and writing blog articles, then joined gardening forums and contributed answers with relevant links.
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Data credibility: Kevin Espiritu states the year-by-year revenue ($70,400 for the first six months full-time through $7.3M in 2021), the 2019 media/product split and the "tens of millions" current figure himself in a Starter Story feature. Self-reported and unaudited; the number of raised beds in the first sold-out batch is not given.
Epic Gardening first earned modestly from its blog, which Kevin recalls reaching about $400 a month, then roughly $2,000–$3,000 monthly after a few months of concentrated writing and research. Later in 2016, he says it reached $4,000–$5,000 a month.
Epic Gardening’s growth became self-reinforcing when education, audience attention, and products began supporting one another. The blog and later content attracted people trying to grow plants; that audience made product questions visible.
A gardening media business can spend months publishing before search rankings, reader habits, and buying signals become clear.
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