My First Organics Kit Review & Giveaway (Ends 4/10)

This year we decided to try growing a garden and have Aidan help us with that. So I was challenged to find a way to have him (26 months) help and hopefully learn something. I found the company “Surf City Growers” that not only is a certified organic company but they also sell these adorable kits called “My First Organics.” Surf City Growers was started in 2005 by a couple who wanted to grow everything organically, make gardening fun, get families outside together, and produce yummy produce!

“My First Organics” kit features:

• Each kit includes everything you need to get started: Certified Organic seeds and soil, 8 organic biodegradable pots, Certified organic plant food and instructions.

• Everything is also recyclable, reusable, or biodegrade able.

• Kits good for up to 1 year from date of purchase.

• Very easy 3 step process: Start, Sprout, Harvest.

• Produces fresh, organic produce. So you will not only get a higher quality produce but you will be growing it yourself rather than shopping for it at the supermarket.

• Lot of different produce choices and retails for a reasonable $14.99.

• Fun for kids and very easy.

• Also, for every kit you purchase a percentage goes to place My First Organics seed starting kits in public schools.

So when I first received the Heirloom Tomato: Yellow Pear Cherry kit, I was intimidated. I had tried to garden in our old house and hated it. The garden was from the old owners and it really needed to be torn up and re-done. It also didn’t help that the neighbor’s tree shadowed our garden and rabbits ate the few things that did grow. Oh and did I mention we have crazy spiders that lived in the garden too, yuck no more for me. Now that we are living in a different house, with a smaller Chicago-style backyard (small and square), we really have nowhere to garden but that is not stopping us. With the My First Organics kits, once you are ready you can transfer them to a container if a ground option is not available.

So as I said these kits are easy, here are the steps:

• Take the 8 pots and fill them with the include starter soil.

• Create a hole in the middle of each and place in 2-3 seeds. Cover them.

• Put the seeded pots into the greenhouse box (this is the white plastic box that everything came in) and fill with water until pots float a little bit.

• Once your pots and soil are damp, cover up your greenhouse and you are ready to grow!

• Once your seedlings sprout, transplant each of the 8 pots directly into the ground or container and watch them grow!

I love how easy these kits are, that really you can’t go wrong and they are for families. I let Aidan put the soil in each pot and then add the water in the end. Everyday he has been checking to see if anything is there because I know he has no idea what to expect. You know with kids they want immediate results, but he is surprisingly being patient and curious.

Not sure about your soil, where to start, or have other gardening questions, Surf City Growers website has everything you need to know. It was such a great resource to me since I am garden-challenged. Now we just wait 6-7 days for germination and in about 2 months we should have some mature Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes. Yum Yum! It was nice too that the seed packets contained so much useful information: Planting depth, Soil temp for germination, Days to germination, Plant spacing after thinning, Days to Maturity, Sun, and Water levels.

Another option to keep in mind with these kits is that Surf City Growers has an excellent fund raising program where you raise $5 for every kit sold. I thought that was pretty neat because there are only so many cookies, magazines, and raffle tickets you can sell before it gets old and believe me I have an 11 year old sister and 14 year old brother and one is them asks me to buy something every week through a fundraiser!

Want to learn more about how it all began? Check out this blog post by Linda McNair!

Okay so are you excited yet about the warm weather coming, growing your own garden, and getting your kids involved (it’s okay if you don’t have kids and you want to try this anyways!)

Buy It: Receive a 15% discount when you enter “MAMASAVERS” (Expires 12/31/09)

Win it: Visit the My First Organics website and tell me which other kit you would love.