I was reading one of my gardening magazines over breakfast this morning and came across this advert, my first response was WTF !! For those of you unfamiliar with this saying it is along the lines of 'oh my, what on earth is this'. ;-)
I have just done ten minutes research into this on various sites including Amazon (see HERE) and have found out that they retail for between £1.99 ad £4.59.
For £4.39 you get a tomato seed, oh sorry TWO whole tomato seeds, compost (or in their words 'growing media'), fertiliser .... the amount of fertiliser in one of these pots must be minute, and of course you get your 'seed pod'.
THUD
...... sorry, that was me falling off my chair in shock.
They are 'guaranteed to grow' but if you read the Amazon reviews from people who have tried to grow them it would seem that this does not happen very often, and I had a genuine 'laugh out loud' moment reading one of the reviews. To quote one purchaser 'package said watermelon, but it grew a zucchini plant'' now that would be amusing ... or not, as the case may be!!
On the pack and the adverts it says that all you have to do is 'plant, water, enjoy', it mentions nothing of potting up into larger pots, feeding the plants once they start fruiting, nipping off side shoots, tying the plants to a support etc etc etc...... I see lots of disappointed people, especially children who will give up gardening after the first few failures and go back to buying cheap tasteless supermarket offerings instead, thinking they just can't grow successfully ..... or maybe that's the plan!!
I don't think I'll be giving this a go even as a daft trial, after all for not much more money you can buy a bag of compost, a full packet of seeds and a carton of tomato food (which is an excellent fertiliser and plant food for all sorts of fruits and vegetables).
When I want seed pods I get out my toilet roll cardboard inners and use them ... they are 100% biodegradable. This photo is my version of seed pods growing right now in the polytunnel. Lots more food for lots less money.
Please let me know if you decide to give these a go as I would love to hear if they are any good.
Sue xx
For £4.39 you get a tomato seed, oh sorry TWO whole tomato seeds, compost (or in their words 'growing media'), fertiliser .... the amount of fertiliser in one of these pots must be minute, and of course you get your 'seed pod'.
THUD
...... sorry, that was me falling off my chair in shock.
They are 'guaranteed to grow' but if you read the Amazon reviews from people who have tried to grow them it would seem that this does not happen very often, and I had a genuine 'laugh out loud' moment reading one of the reviews. To quote one purchaser 'package said watermelon, but it grew a zucchini plant'' now that would be amusing ... or not, as the case may be!!
On the pack and the adverts it says that all you have to do is 'plant, water, enjoy', it mentions nothing of potting up into larger pots, feeding the plants once they start fruiting, nipping off side shoots, tying the plants to a support etc etc etc...... I see lots of disappointed people, especially children who will give up gardening after the first few failures and go back to buying cheap tasteless supermarket offerings instead, thinking they just can't grow successfully ..... or maybe that's the plan!!
I don't think I'll be giving this a go even as a daft trial, after all for not much more money you can buy a bag of compost, a full packet of seeds and a carton of tomato food (which is an excellent fertiliser and plant food for all sorts of fruits and vegetables).
When I want seed pods I get out my toilet roll cardboard inners and use them ... they are 100% biodegradable. This photo is my version of seed pods growing right now in the polytunnel. Lots more food for lots less money.
Please let me know if you decide to give these a go as I would love to hear if they are any good.
Sue xx
I shan't be trying them, I will stick the the good old seeds and eat my salads for a few pence x
ReplyDeleteVery interesting concept.
ReplyDeleteI certainly won't be trying these, give me a packet of seeds and a bag of compost any day instead.
ReplyDeleteI wont be trying them but please explain how i grow tomatoes successfully without shelter, no poly tunnel, no greenhouse etc. We've tried the grow cubes (recently bought from a garden centre) but they seem to have withered to nothing even though i folowed instructions, were also trying the upside down hangers but they also seem to be withering. All are outside open to elements of rain shade (until the sun comes around over fence) and sun when it comes out (we get alot of sun in our garden when it does sunshine)!. Tomatoes are apparently sooooo easy to grow, apparently! Yet 2nd year on row they have not been successful :(
ReplyDeleteAny advice? Thanks
Give them a go Sue? I might look a bit like an ageing cabbage these days but I am not that green. Or to put it another way - a fool and his/her money are soon parted.
ReplyDeleteI saw the TV ad, not sure it mentioned the price, won't be tempted. Got our trailer here today with the garden stuff on it - can't wait to get started even though its on a tiny scale compared to the smallholding and no polytunnel of course :-(
ReplyDeleteAmazing what they will come up with to part the gullible from their money ! Definitely won't be trying these, but may have a go at growing a few tomatoes in one of my large plant pots.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely get the concept and idea behind it - trying to get people interested in gardening so for that alone I can see the merit. For me personally, I wouldn't pay for it.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, our local grocery store chain just ran a promotion called "moes tuintje" and every 15 Euros you spent in store you got a little biodegradable box, a coor (? spelling) tablet and some seeds to encourage kids to get into growing. The amount of seeds depended on the vegetable or herb you got given (tomatoes had 6, zucchini had 2 etc). Part of the fun was also the fact that the boxes weren't labelled so it was a fun lucky dip for us kids at heart too.
The fun for us was to see what we could germinate and then re-pot out into containers on our balcony and the fact they were free with the regular grocery shopping we were doing anyways. Any that don't germinate (or survive!) will be attempted again through a garden centre seed packet.
Yes I would definately buy this product and give it a go!. Guess designed for people like me. Cost not importaint.
ReplyDeleteCould spend more at cinema.
Nice to watch plants growing and maybe get a tomato at the end. Bit of fun. Not serious like being self sufficient. Just fun on windowsill. I have no use for hundreds of seeds!.
Bought a tomato plant last year in tesco. £2.99 got 2 tomatoes enjoyed watering them. With experience would have got lots more, but I had no clue water only. Was fun. Maybe a business thought for you?.
Fancy organic packaging , sell to sad city people like me 😊
I will not be buying any either. A smallish bag of this brand potting soil was $8.00 here in the states market this week. I didn't buy that either.
ReplyDeleteWow that has to be the most expensive pair of tomato seeds ever! But if it turns people onto gardening that has to be a good thing.x
ReplyDeleteThat is just plain crazy!! I save my pots year to year, but really must try your idea of the cardboard tubes.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Ooh I was just wondering if you still used loo roll inners to start off your seeds. I'm just about to start my runner bean seeds in some to see if it helps - I usually find I have to resow if I put them straight in the ground and I'd like to get some started a bit earlier so I can extend the season
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there are many sales? I'll bet the "gauranteed to grow" sucks in people who want to garden, but have no experience, into buying.
ReplyDeleteConcerning toilet paper rolls, we have lots of starts currently sprouting in ours. We square ours up so they fit better in our trays. We planted in compost and have some random sprouts coming up with what we planted. Shows our compost didn't get hot enough to stop this from happening. Oh well, they are easy to pull at this stage.
I'm always looking for Christmas presents that don't weigh too much, as I have to post a lot. I think I would try something like this as part of a Christmas parcel, something children especially could have fun with, but if I was trying to grow a crop it is probably not the best choice! (NB I cannot grow anything, everything dies - sigh - I'll stick to lawn and bushes and birdfeeders, with the odd pot of pre-grown pansies and suchlike! Actually, really good at chives, they are taking over the garden :)
ReplyDeleteI have bought 2 of these to grow courgettes. They were £1.59 each to me as I bought them from where I work so I got discount. I grow a couple of courgette plants every year but I never buy seeds as I only need a couple of plants. I easily pay this much for my plants and I have to drive several miles to the garden centre to buy them. I will let you know how they do. Tracy
ReplyDeleteIn the list of contents, they should include "Masses of Added Value (aka profit)"! Some people must think those things worth having, but it does make you wonder why.
ReplyDeleteI saw these last week in Wilkos and my reaction was a rather similar acronym to yours.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is that they are aimed at the novice and with such a high potential for failure this really is not a good way to encourage people to grow things.