Teabag Technology™

So, after recently posting saying that I do not promote things very regularly, here I am doing it again.  Why did I say yes this time, because I was intrigued and partly amused.  B & Q are launching a new range of plants under the branding of easyGrow.  I was asked if I would try some of these plants to see what I thought.  What I thought was they were planted in a teabag.  Then to find out that they call it Teabag Technology made me very happy as I felt like I had correctly guessed a bit of science (and I am not of the science frame of mind).  Information on the technology and sales-pitch can be found here:

B & Q also have the ever-lovely Emila Fox fronting a youtube clip.
easyGrow is meant to give you healthier plants, easy planting and be kind to the planet.  So official sales pitch aside, what really matters in my world is are the plants any good?
Firstly, to be fair, they are not usually going to be sent out by mail order, so mine had been through a traumatic journey that will not happen when people buy them in the shops.  Trauma aside, they did look pretty healthy to me.  Good strong plants with a good-sized rootball. Teabag Technology appears to work.
Were they easy to plant - good grief yes!  Very easy, in terms of an advertising claim it is 100% true.  You just pick them up and pop them in.  I would think they would be very good for young children to plant too as they are a reasonable size and just so easy to get in the ground.  I decided to plant them in my gravel garden as it is a bit of a sun trap and I think they will thrive there.
Are they kind to the planet?  Well the blurb says that the packaging is 100% recyclable and there is 25% less of it.  I have no way of measuring this but what I can say is that the tray they come in is perfect to be reused as a seed tray in the future.
and I am pleased with the results.  They have only been planted a couple of days so they still have a lot of growing to do, but I am pleased with the quality so far.  I was also sent a pack of the pelagoniums, they seem equally healthy and I am looking forward to seeing them flower.
I think this marigold that I have potted up to live on the doorstop might be my favourite,
It will soon grow that it is more than just peeping over the edge and it will brightly smile at me whenever I come home.  What more could be wanted?

Comments

  1. It's a start - though you have to wonder how kind it is to the planet to transport coir from halfway round the world to make the "teabags" !

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    1. well yes, but as you say it is a start, and they would be more criticised if they used something peat-based to fill them I imagine.

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  2. I've just read Helen's blog re this product over at The Patient Gardener.
    My only concern was the plastic tray they came in. Being a gardener that tends not to do many seeds - I'd have to send these to landfill as my local authority do not recycle these type of plastic containers. Previously I would reuse the polystyrene for crocs in the base of large containers.
    Plants look very healthy and the marigold in the terracotta will look spectacular on the doorstep.

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    1. Its frustrating when you would recycle things if you could, it doesn't help does it.

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  3. I love that bee pot, and the marigold looks cheerful.

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    1. The bee pot is a favourite, I had been looking for the right thing to put in it and I thought the marigolds might be just the thing.

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  4. Hi Alison, I saw this product 'in the flesh' so to speak at a B&Q store earlier today. I had a good poke and prod at the trays & plants in tea bags and I noticed two things, firstly the green tray that the plants are stood in have no holes, so the pants I saw were sodden, also the teabag plants were very easy to remove from the trays and i saw people doing so, only a few of the plants were put back.

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