grow kit

Looks like kids gardening is going to be bigger than ever in 2012, by the looks of all the yowza grow kits marketed to them on the shelves.

Seems the gardening industry has caught wind of the fact that those Gen X and Y consumers they've been trying to reach have kids, and that a good chunk of any disposable income Mommy and Daddy have for gardening is probably going to go toward something they can do with their children. Same goes for the Baby Boomers and their grandkids.

And I don't think it'll just stop at grow kits. After all, Netherlands-based flower auction company FloraHolland just announced the release of its Hello Kitty line of plants, aimed at girls and young women. Now that's marketing MEOW!

Hello Kitty plants

Obviously, the industry also knows that kids will go for anything with a character on it – from breakfast cereal to bandages to toothbrushes and toilet seats.  Hence the Growums garden kits (tagline: "Add a little character to your garden!") retailing for $39.98 at my neighborhood Home Depot. The 50-plus characters - with names like Adam Apple, Duke the Cuke and Elvis Parsley are part of six themed edible gardening kits (pizza, taco, herb, salad, ratatouille and stirfy).

Growums ($39.98 at Home Depot)

And of course, there's an online component at Growums.com, where you can learn about the characters and their gardens, play games, use Growums for fundraisers, follow Growums on Twitter and Facebook and even "track your Growems" (I don't know what this means, since I didn't buy one and you have to enter the UPC code from the kit to find out). I think it's smart marketing - and as the mom of a 4-year-old, I'll know to steer clear of it in Home Depot if she's with me and I don't want to spend the extra cash. Kudos to Bonnie Plants for really thinkin' this one through!

$39.98 a little much for ya? How 'bout the $2.99 "Eco Plant Pals" (also available at Amazon.com). I found as part of a mondo kids' grow kit display in my Wegmans supermarket. These kits, too, feature their own cartoon characters, like Strawberry Sarah, Aloe Alin and Basil Bob:

Eco Plant Pals ($2.99 at Wegmans)

Princess Garden ($14.99 at Wegmans)

Carnivorous Creations ($24.99 at Wegmans)

Looks like "fairy gardening"– that gardening trend in which tiny plants are grown as part of a miniature scene fit for a fairy - has really taken off. I know I saw a lot of fairy gardening stuff on display, at least, at the 2011 Garden Writers Association symposium this past summer in Indianapolis: 

Fairy Triad grow kit ($24.99 at Wegmans)

But the most exciting thing for me personally, as an incurable plant nerd, were all the kits offering the opportunity to grow exotic edibles (well, exotic in my western NY Zone 6ish garden, that is).  baThere were kits for bananas, peanuts, coffee and even pomegranate trees. And as the kid who always wanted to sprout an avocado pit on the windowsill to make my own tree, I'm willing to slap down the $4 or $10 to see if it actually works.

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Pomegranate grow kit ($4 at Wegmans)

Want to grow some flowers or veggies this summer, or beautify your deck or patio for the season, but don't have the time to get out to the garden center to buy plants? Here's the easy-care gardening way to do it: Just pick up gardening grow kits at chain or independent stores while you're shopping for other things. At least that's what I've taken to doing lately. At CVS a few weeks ago, while I was waiting for a prescription, my 3-year-old daughter and I ended up with a Disney princess-themed daisy grow kit. A week later, while shopping for door hooks at Home Depot, I remembered I wanted to grow strawberries out on our deck, so I picked up a ready-to-go planter (also below).

Why grow kits? They're relatively inexpensive, usually costing somewhere from a few bucks to about $20. And they almost always contain everything you need, from potting soil to seeds to fertilizer to the pot itself (that means it doesn't take up space on your dining room table until you get around to buying the extra bag of potting soil or the right-size pot). Plus, the places you typically put them in are either in the house (like on the windowsill) or close by, like the porch, patio or deck. So watering just requires a pitcher fill-up in the house, not a trip to the hose spigot (at least for me this is a pain, because I have to walk out the side door of my house, around the pool and deck, to get to the spigot on the other side). 

So here are some other grow kits I found at a few stores – for me, they ended up being chains where I end up doing errands, but you can find them virtually everywhere you go this season. This is only a handful of what I found, but there's so much more. So the next time you're waiting for a prescription at the pharmacy, picking up a greeting card at Target or waiting for your paint to get mixed at the Home Depot, scoot over to the gardening or seasonal aisle and treat yourself to a gardening grow kit! Chances are, you might not get around to it later …

Herbs are great, especially for kids, since they involve so many of the senses. Here are three I found at CVS:

Buzzy^® brand lavender grow kit (purple pail). $5.99. Includes painted pail, potting soil, seeds and instructions.

Buzzy Herb Grow Kit with Miracle-Gro^® Watering Can Singles water-soluble plant food (bottom, front). $7.99. Also includes seeds for sweet basil, chives and parsley, plus instructions and galvenized metal growing trough with.

Buzzy Kitchen Herb Kit (in back). $14.99. Includes three ceramic, kiwi-green mini pots on a matching ceramic tray. Also includes starter soil pellets, instructions and seeds for sweet basil, thyme and sage.

Topsy Turvy^® upside down tomato planter. $9.99, Walgreens. OK, so it isn't technically a grow kit (it doesn't contain soil or seeds), but you have to admit, it makes for pretty easy-care gardening and is deal for the porch, deck or patio. Plus, it's sold next to all the gardening kits. “World’s easiest way to grow tomatoes” says the package. Hangs on deck, balcony or patio. Eliminates weeding, caging and staking. "Grow organic too!" Easy to use … three simple steps … 1) Put plant in the bottom. 2) Put soil in the bag (at top). 3) Water in the top. Grows all varieties of tomatoes, including beefsteak, yellow and cherry. Also grows other veggies, including green bell peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant and more.

How it works: Uses gravity as a vertical growing advantage. Vertical grow bag heats the plant like a greenhouse so the root system explodes. Gravity pulls the water and nutrients directly to the roots.

Features: Swivel top for easy turning. Simple to set up and maintain. Uses ordinary potting soil. UV-resistant, durable materials to last for years.

Target always sells grow kits you know will be stylish. Here's a Smith & Hawken^® Strawberry Grow Kit that has a nice contemporary design and a white color (so it'll go with everything). The ceramic pot has an opening at the top and four on the sides where strawberries can grow. Includes seeds, potting soil, pot and instructions. $19.99.

Strawberry Grow Kit. $9.99. Home Depot. Even though I like the style of the Target one better, I chose this one from Home Depot because it has a strawberry on the outside, and I thought that would be better for my 3-year-old, who I knew would be planting the strawberries with me. The porcelain pot also has opening at the top and four openings on the sides for growing strawberries. Includes seeds, potting soil and instructions.

Here's the Buzzy brand Disney princess grow pot I got for $6.99 at CVS. Kids love characters … I've also seen Veggie Tales grow kits and Munakupi grass or curly basil grow kits at Wegmans supermarkets and CVS, respectively. Includes daisy seeds, potting soil, pail and instructions.

Small kits are great for little hands. Here are four I found at CVS:

1) Crayola "My First Garden" sunflower kit in crayon planter. $2.99. 

2) Buzzy brand echinacea (coneflower) grow kit. $4.99. 

3 and 4) Buzzy bachelor’s button and marigold grow kits. Includes tiny terra cotta pots, soil pellets, seeds, soil. $1.99 each.

So, has anyone tried any grow kits they particularly liked? If so, post a comment and tell me where I can find them!

See you next time on Your Easy Garden by Tesselaar! I'm off to buy me a Topsy Turvy planter!