Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I spent days comparing herb garden kits available here on Amazon and landed on this one after reading quite a few reviews of competitor kits that resulted in the biodegradable pots eventually growing mold. This kit was more expensive than other options by a margin of $10-20, but with 9 different herb varieties and matching plastic pots with trays and labels, it seemed worth it. The Pros: (1) The nine little pots are surprisingly good quality! They’re made of sturdy taupe plastic, are good size (about 4” square) and have good drainage as well. There are three trays that fit 3 pots each and the trays are shaped so there’s a little divot underneath so there’s actually room for some air circulation and collecting any excess water that drains out. (2) The “soil” disks that came with the set were great, and they actually expanded to a much greater volume than I expected. I actually only ended up needing 6 of the 9 discs to fill all 9 pots to the top. They were super easy to set up. I just put them one at a time into a big mixing bowl, poured warm water over them, and then spooned the “dirt” into the pots. I keep using quotation because the potting mx disks seem to be made of coconut coir which is great - sterile, smells good, and doesn’t risk bringing any gnats or other gross pests you wouldn’t want indoors (which is sometimes unavoidable, even with name brand potting mixes for indoor plants). (3) The bamboo labels with each herb’s name are really cute and have a little spot to label the planting date. HOWEVER… (see below) (4) The seeds! This is the best mix of seeds for my herb preferences of the kits I saw that were available. I have a couple guesses as to why: some of these herbs don’t get along with others in this mix and can’t be planted in the same container with each other (looking at you, Dill). I did soak the seeds overnight before planting; I took about a dozen of each and put them in alphabetical order in the divots in an ice tray so I wouldn’t forget which was which type. The directions say don’t bother planting the seeds that float, but a LOT of them were floating and I didn’t have enough extra seeds to try a whole new round, so I just tried planting the sunken seeds first and stuck some extra floating ones in. The directions for each individual seeds suggested somewhere in the ballpark of 9 seeds per pot, so I did a 3 by 3 grid in each pot which gave them each about 1.5” of space apart. I did try to prioritize planting the seeds that sunk but in some cases (notably, cilantro) I couldn’t avoid planting some floaty seeds because I had only one or two seeds that sank. Oregano and Thyme are a pain to plant because they’re super tiny and it’s impossible to tell if you’ve actually got them in the dirt or if they’re stuck to your hand still. I used tweezers to put the seeds in place which probably isn’t necessary, but, for what it’s worth, that’s what seemed easiest to me. Also, it says to plant the basil by putting the seeds on top of the soil. I did that and after 2 weeks, they were still just sitting there even after I had a few other sprouts… I pushed them just a smidge under the soil surface with a toothpick and within a week, I had six sprouts. So maybe don’t follow the directions for that one. The Cons: (1) The trays that came with the pots do not look like the ones pictures; they are very flimsy, not even the thickness of a red Solo picnic cup, for comparison. They work well enough to collect water drainage but they don’t match the pots’ color and aren’t sturdy enough to pick up and move the pots, which you may find you want to do more often than you think, either to water or to start moving outside for a few hours a day to harden them off before transplanting extra seedlings to bigger pots. I ended up moving them onto a small cookie sheet because it was easier. (2) The potting mix may be relatively sterile but - beware using the bamboo plant labels in wet dirt!! (3) These labels unfortunately ended up being the one huge problem with this kit because of MOLD (or fungus?). To be clear, I’m not sure I would blame the manufacturers for this, but a better warning might be in order… About three weeks after I had set up this kit, I noticed some soil caking around the stem of the plant label stuck into one of the pots, and when I pulled it up a bit to investigate, I noticed blue-green mold (or fungus? something gross, at any rate) growing all over the part that had been submerged in the dirt. This happened on every single one. I ended up pulling all nine out and then throwing them away. I was worried the soil was now contaminated and my plants were doomed, and ultimately I just scooped out the soil around where the plant labels had been and sprayed down that little area with some diluted apple-cider vinegar, which Google tells me is a gentle, natural fungicide. I am no expert (obviously, that’s why I bought a plant kit on Amazon and didn’t just go it alone) so who knows if this helped or if my plants are now sitting in moldy soil, but if this happens to you, that’s what I tried. My plants don’t seem bothered by it. Anyway, if you want to use the labels, maybe just tape them to the back/outside of the pots instead of sticking them in and avoid this mess. (4) The seeds… took forever to germinate. I’m in southern California and I have a very sunny windowsill and little balcony. We’ve had great, sunny weather the last month. I started the seeds on the windowsill and after a week, I had nothing. I tried moving the pots outside during the sunniest hours of the day to get them some extra overhead light and still… not much. After 10 days I had one tiny little thyme sprout and nothing else. I messaged the seller and they offered to send me new seeds right away. However, it’s been over 2 weeks since then and no replacement seeds ever arrived. But they were very friendly! FINALLY… neither a pro or a con, but rather a suggestion: GET A GROW LIGHT. The brand probably doesn’t matter but I ordered the “Ankace Full Spectrum Grow Lamp, Tri Head Gooseneck Plant Lights” for around $30 also here on Amazon. I kept it on 16 hours a day, off for 8 hours over night, placed about 6” over the pots, and within 48 hours I had an explosion of sprouts. It could have just been a coincidence, after 2 weeks of natural sunlight, that they just happened to be almost ready to sprout when I set up the light anyway, but I’m inclined to think not because I planted seeds from another kit later and those sprouted about 72 hours after planting with the grow light on from the start. Buying one effectively doubles the cost of this kit which is already one of the more expensive ones, but I think it was worth it. and one final note… a month after planting, seven of the herbs ended up producing 7-9 sprouts from the 9 seeds planted of each. However, I only ever got three oregano sprouts. And, it took a full 25 days, even with the lamp, to see even one single rosemary leaf. It remains to be seen whether more will ever come up. But overall it was a lot of fun watching them start growing and i’m excited to be able to start using these herbs in a month or two when they’re big enough to start cutting!