SproutRobot: A Planting Calendar & Seeds
“SproutRobot tells you when to plant & sends you seeds”, says the SproutRobot.com home page in big bold letters. SproutRobot is a new site that purports to plan a garden for you based on your geographic region and space available. Then, depending on which plan you choose, send you the necessary seeds and a emailed reminder of when to plant them.
Enter your zip code, click “Get Started”, and SproutRot returns a list of their tiered plans.
(per the website)
- Get seeds and instructions in the mail whenever it’s time to plant!
- We choose certified organic heirloom seeds that are perfect for your climate and the time of year.
- Your planting calendar will be hand-checked by our gardening experts.
- 100% money back satisfaction guarantee.
Plans range in price from a free plan up to $59.99 a year. The Free plan is email only and you are responsible for purchasing your own seeds. Choosing this plan you are taken to a page to pick out the kind of vegetables you want to grow by the season and a brief form to set up an account with SproutRobot.
After the Free email only plan you step into the “SproutRobot Plus” programs. The “SproutPlus” are tiered service. The first in the Plus plans is the “Patio Garden” the site says is good for “a few pots” at $19.99. Third plan is the “Small Garden” which is “enough for a full 8 foot bed” at $39.99 a year. Fourth and final plan is the “Family Garden” which claims to be “Plenty for three 10 foot beds” at $59.99 a year.
Giving RobotSprout A Whirl
While the site is well designed from an ease of use and graphical standpoint, it is still in Beta. To test it out I signed up for the “Patio Garden” plan. The site is pretty new and lacks some rather important information like: What exactly the guarantee covers, an About Us Page, any information that tells you when to expect your seeds, and Terms of Use. I also noticed that my zip code was calling the wrong area. Granted it was for a city nearby (46.7 miles south of me), but it was still wrong.
Right away I got my first email telling me it’s time to plant green beans. The email was simple, to the point, and nicely formatted.
You get three basic links once you have an account: Next, Calendar, and Check In. Next seems to show you the next vegetables you should be planting in the coming week. Calendar shows you a simple list, by week, of what and when you should be planting and goes through the end of the current calendar year. In both the “Next” and “Calendar” pages you listed vegetables are linked. The linked vegetables take you to the first result of a Google Search on “How to Plan X” (X being whatever the plant is you are clicking on). Check In takes you to a page where you can check off the vegetables you have planted and update your garden and calendar.
Thumbs Up or Down
This is a great idea that just needs some work. The price seems fair enough for what you are getting. Since I just signed up for it and have not gone through the full process to the point of receiving and planting the seeds, I can’t say for sure I would recommend it yet. I can say that it is an interesting tool that I would really like to see take off.
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