Bloomin' Bin is a gardening subscription with five options. The offer a mini bin, a basic bin for the garden, a basic bin for containers, a premium bin for the garden, and a premium container bin.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Bloomin' Bin
The Cost: Mini Bin - $10 + $3.75 shipping = $13.75/mo, Basic Garden - $14 + $3.54 shipping = $17.54/mo, Basic Container - $16 + $3.81 shipping = $19.81/mo, Garden Premium - $23 + $8.32 shipping = $31.32/mo, and Container Premium - $25 + $8.32 shipping = $33.32/mo
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off your first purchase!
CODE: ADDICTIN10
The Products: "A basic box includes enough seeds, items, and knowledge to get started, and premium boxes offer projects to take you further." Includes seeds, garden tips, projects, garden tools, and plants. The mini bin offers only one seed variety or container.
Ships to: US only
Check out the Eco Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add Bloomin' Bin to your subscription list or wishlist!
This review is of the premium container box, and it's actually a review of two months' worth of Bloomin' Bins. There was some sort of problem with the plants they sent in their first box, so I got a replacement sent to me at no cost. Unfortunately, that meant that it took a long, long time to see the blooms from my first Bloomin' Bin. So, I'm showing them here with my second box. This is the info card that was included in my first box, listing the contents.
Our first box included everything we needed to grow our own strawberries! These are the plants that were initially included.
This is everything else that was included in the strawberries box. As you can see, they provided a couple of different pots, peat cups, soil, strawberry food, paint, and a foam paintbrush.
I've been working on this project for two months now, and this is where we're at. First of all, Bloomin' Bin never included enough soil, so I had to get some from my soil bags. This was not a big deal for me since I have plenty of soil around, but I would probably have been annoyed if I didn't have it handy. Second, the first batch of strawberry plants did not grow despite my following the directions. As I mentioned above, there was supposedly something wrong with the plants, so Bloomin' Bin sent me some new ones. The one on the right looks to be doing fine, but the one on the left keeps struggling. I don't know if it will ever sprout leaves or not. In any case, if the strawberry plants survive, they will not produce berries until a year or two from now.
My project for the first month was to paint the terra cotta pot, as seen here.
While I was working on the strawberry plants, my second box arrived.
This month's package was full of beans!
These instructions were included, showing how to build a twine trellis. I don't have any need for that, though, so I skipped this project.
These instructions were also included, describing how I should sprout my beans.
These are all the supplies that were included in my June box. A couple of the items that were included came without reference in the instructions. I spread the turkey compost in my garden, but I'm not sure what was supposed to happen with the big black plastic sheet. For the first box I received, I did go to Bloomin' Bin's tutorial section to watch what to do. The video tutorial was pretty helpful.
This odd little bean diary was also included. I knew when I saw it that I would never have the patience to journal my beans, and then the grammar on the back cover sealed the deal. I try really hard to be understanding of bad grammar, and I know I am far from perfect, but for whatever reason this just rubbed me the wrong way.
This is one of my biobags in use. This month involved sprouting the beans in the biobags and then transplanting to a garden or container.
Here are my sprouted beans. All of them sprouted, but by this point about half of them had already dried back up. The biobag method was a failure, and I don't really see any advantage to this sprouting method. When I sprout seeds, I use a paper plate and paper towels. That way I can just lift the paper towels and look to see what the seeds are doing. Using the biobags meant I could never see what was happening without totally deconstructing the whole setup. I get that the biobags help retain moisture, but we're not having a drought right now, so I would prefer to just mist the paper towels every so often and still be able to see what's happening. That's just my preference, though.
Verdict: To be honest, I am not that happy with Bloomin' Bin. I think they are on to a great idea, but these boxes were a bit of a mess. I think they may be trying to do too many things at once. I would like to see Bloomin' Bin produce everything you need, in a streamlined experience, with instructions, to grow one plant every month. That would be worth $25 to me, because then I would always know how to grow that plant. As it stands, I found both boxes to be confusing and a little scattered. Hopefully they will improve with time.
What do you think of Bloomin' Bin?
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