Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First, what's in the box. You get the planter itself (which includes a three-wire hanging system with a swiveling hook attachment at the junction), a plastic cap that covers the top of the planter, a small sheet of instructions, and a reasonably heavy duty screw-in hook that you're to screw into the awning of your house. And....that's it. To this, you need to add potting soil, fertilizer and plants. The advertising and general presentation of this item makes it seem so simple: Fill it with potting soil, add plants, hang, water, wait for berries to appear and enjoy. Like countless others I fell for that. I bought this item as a treat for my three year old daughter, so she could gain the experience of watching plants grow and strawberries appear. I followed the instructions verbatim, using Miracle Grow potting soil and plant food, measured to the correct proportions. I bought 30 strawberry plants from a local greenhouse. I inserted two plants per hole, filling it up with soil as I went. When it was complete I covered it and hung it from the included hook just outside my back door. I watered it every day, just as the instructions said. And then I ran into problems. The first thing I noticed is that the lower plants started to wilt. My mother, who knows far more about gardening than I do, decreed that there wasn't enough water getting down to them. I recalled that when I added water to the planter it tended to overfill very quickly. So I took the planter down and very carefully hollowed out a space in the middle of the planter going all the way down. I inserted a cardboard paper tower tube (into which I had poked a number of holes), hung it back up, and then watered it. This time the water went all the way to the bottom, going through the holes in the tube (and the tube itself) to water all the plants. Problem solved, or so I thought. Over the next few weeks I watched all of the bottom row plants and most of the middle row plants wither and die. The topmost plants flourished. To date, I don't understand why. My only guess - and this is PURELY a guess - is that I was a little too rough on the root systems for the lower plants (which were inserted first) and, as I got used to the process, got progressively more gentle, which saved the upper plants. I watched the remaining plants grow and flower and small berries began to appear. Success! Then I discovered/realized the second problem that the instructions don't warn you about. Although strawberries are very tasty to us humans, there are a LARGE number of wild creatures who will happily gorge themselves on them as well. For weeks I watched numerous small berries appear, and then just begin to ripen, and then the next day saw huge chunks - or entire berries - disappear from the plant. That's when I had enough. I had the planter for two months and hadn't gotten a single berry from it. I moved the planter into my house, hung it on a hook in our sun room, and every few days checked for new flowers. I pollinated using a small watercolor brush from my daughter's paint set. Eventually new berries began to appear and ripen and we were able to enjoy them. They are, in fact, quite tasty. So there you have it. This is NOT a "set it and forget it" deal. It requires some time and effort in order to achieve results. For today's fast food-oriented society this could be a deal breaker, but I leave it up to you to decide. Two other things..... First, after about a month I discovered, by lifting the plastic top off the planter, that new plants had started growing inside the planter (rather than through the holes in the side). I was able to redirect these new plants through the side openings but be aware that this may happen. Second - and this IS mentioned in the manual, but IMO not strenuously enough - the filled and watered planter is HEAVY, easily 20 lbs, so it's wise to make sure you screw the hook into a place that can support that kind of weight. One nice touch: The hook assembly has a swivel in it which makes it very easy to rotate the planter on the hook, so as to best take advantage of available light. It's a good idea to rotate the planter every day or two so as to allow all plants an equal opportunity to get some light. I would have very much liked to have gotten a little more information in the instruction manual. For those who have a "green thumb" what I describe above is probably obvious, and in retrospect it's obvious to me too - NOW. A couple of months ago, not so much. Given that this is targeted towards people without a lot of gardening experience some additional information, tips, instructions, etc would have been very helpful. For lacking that information I take away one star.