9 Herb Indoor Window Garden Kit - House Plants Seeds - Best Unique Gift Ideas for Women, Mom, Friend, Her, Birthday, Housewarming, Mother - New Home Kitchen Gifts - Live Plant Starter (Plastic)

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!

I was impressed with the kit! I feel like it’s a great quarantine project. All of the seeds seemed to be in good shape and only a few of them floated when I was prepping the seeds. Some of the seeds are so tiny that they can be hard to plant!The dirt pucks are pretty interesting and kinda reminds me of a science fair project - they expand when you add hot water. I ended up being able to fill two extra little pots with dirt after all was said and done, so I would maybe hold off on making all the pucks at once because they could be handy for future projects.I just planted them a few days ago and they have yet to sprout but the process was fun and the components seem to be high-quality. I ended up covering the pots with saran wrap to help keep a humid environment per the advice of my friend, so I’ll keep you posted if that seems to be an effective technique for this kit to help speed up germination.I actually received the trays featured in the product photos, I know some others have received different ones. The trays I received are sturdy and look exactly like the product photos.I like that they include a thorough booklet of instructions. I’m planning on cutting the seed packets apart to make cute labels for all of the pots, for those who aren’t into the bamboo signs.

DO NOT PURCHASE. POOR PRODUCT. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. POOR BUSINESS.Update. After going back and forth, they said they would send me new pots. During this time the remaining pots also broke and the soil went everywhere. Though they said they were sending me new pots, I assumed they would send a new kit as it would be difficult to move the freshly planted seeds, that were now scattered all over my counter. By the time the pots got here, everything had pretty much fallen apart and I threw most of it away to clean the mess. The new pots were a different color and thicker than the original material.I contacted the seller again and explained the situation. I asked for a full refund and offered to return the replacement pots. The seller said they would give me a $10 refund. I asked why they felt like a full refund wasn’t appropriate and explained that within one day the faulty product wasn’t working and that I could not do anything with my new pots. A few days later they responded and asked if I wanted the refund or not, ignoring my question. I said sure send me a full refund. They emailed me again saying they would refund $10. Poor product. Poor customer service. Poor business. Don’t waste your money or time.One pot was a tiny bit chipped when it got here, not a big deal, but within less than 24 hours of planting 5 of 9 pots were broken. I have contacted customer service and am waiting on a response.

8 of 9 seeds were viable. Unfortunately, the Rosemary never sprouted. The Dill has required toothpicks as supports, but a few pieces of soft yarn has them tied to their little stakes nicely. I only planted a few of each seeds to avoid crowding and having to thin them later. (Beats pulling up and discarding perfectly good plants later.) I’m disappointed that the Rosemary never grew, I’ll contact the seller after I write this and see if they’ll send me new seeds. Also, the trays are cheap, thin, very flimsy and won’t last for long. The rest of the set is as described and very nice.

loved it...I have ordered and received 3 more since then...Just gave them out as gifts in the past 2 weeks...Gave to my grandaughter the 1st one on March 13 ( birthday)...when opened box ...one of trays had broken side but was still usefull...she has now planted her herbs...5 pots cracked...she thru them out before I found out...sorry no pics...what can we do...I will be planting one with my other granddaughter in the next week...hopefully they wont crackthx for your attention

Very dissatisfied with this growing kit.The seeds did not germinate (planted some in a hydroponic grower at the same time to compare and none sprouted);my kit was completely missing the cilantro seeds, had to supply my own (these were the only ones that did sprout);there were no seed instructions;a few days after planting, one of the pots suddenly broke open all down the front.It looked so cute we thought it would make a great little windowsill herb garden but it has only been great disappointment. Definitely not worth the money

The soil it comes with is garbage. The seeds kept sprouting, then dying. We planted them in other soil and we now have herbs :) the dill is mental :)

I opened the box. Followed to instructions. Set it up in my window. The next day results are in the pics. Absolute garbage. Waste of money. I want a refund.

1 SEED! ONE! a dill seed is all that sprouted. 2 containers were broken. I use heat mats and am an experienced indoor and outdoor gardener. Huge potential but poorly executed.UPDATE: I updated to 3 stars, could go higher..... the seller reached out and is replacing the items due to the broken parts and bad seeds. That in itself is excellent. Hoping it is better quality this time.