Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: 8/25/2020 A few months ago, I wrote the original review. Now for an update!! Right after I wrote that original review, I transferred the plants WITHOUT the other planting medium to a better soil and moved them outside. It took about a week but they FLOURISHED!!!! Please see the updated pictures! I keep taking them every few weeks to show the progress. Please just buy your own planter, seeds and good soil and do this project at home with the kids, yourself! *****Original review below****** Ok, mom of an almost 5 year old daughter, who loves all things flowers and gardening and crafting. So, I purchased this $30 craft for my kiddo for an Easter gift. Figured it would give us something to do and we could watch it grow for the spring. Our kit came with ALL THE INCLUDED PIECES. I am giving the one star review because I guess I bought a $30 galvanized tin, with three seed packets. Everything else I already had here or could've gotten much cheaper. The kit was the simple part and was taking the gathering time out of the process. Now on to addressing the issues... We did not have the paint issue that I read in other reviews. (paint not sticking and just smudging on tin) Not sure if we got lucky, or maybe I wasn't watching which paint we were using because we have a craft room and we were using a lot of different paints.. sorry I can't help there. I just let her freeform on the tin, and yes, she's just so talented! *Snarkcasam*. I do think they're sending out the cheapest stuff possible on all these kits, because everyone seems to be having the same issue. It's hard to send craft paint out and expect it to stick to tin. We also didn't find any rough edges or sharp edges on the tin. Maybe a different batch being used. Higher quality because they're dealing primarily with children? So also lucky there. Ok, so soil... Wow. More like mossy peet sod. I'm not entirely sure what this stuff is. But it's not "dirt", soil, or even potting medium. I spend a lot of my spare time gardening, planting flowers and breaking my back weeding. These three "soil pods" are atrocious. And you do have to drain it after soaking it. They want you to push all the water out, but be careful because I'm not sure what's in the soil but there's tiny spikes of maybe tree or something like that. Maybe a stiff grassy plant that ended up in this mix. Dirt slivers is a new term I made up that day. And... that kind of defeated the purpose because then you just have to rewet it again to plant the seeds or you feel like they're just setting in dry medium. And IT MOLDS. I put rocks in the bottom of the plastic bin they want you to keep the soil in. So there was some drainage. And yet the soil still molds. I scrape the mold off the top of the soil every couple days as it grows but I can't understand why it's even there. The planter is in a very sunny spot. The top of the planter is dry. There is absolutely no mold in my house. This dirt is just the worst. But I do recommend putting rocks about 1/3 of the way up the bottom of the plastic and keeping the water full in the rock area once the "flowers" ( and you'll see why I quoted that later) have roots long enough to go down in there. It will help keep the top of the soil drier so maybe there won't be so much mold. *Maybe* Seed packets... We did get all three. And we did soak them prior to planting. I knew that my planter would be in a very sunny spot and wasn't worried about germination or even growing. But it was about the process of teaching my daughter so we did it. We planted all of them and seemed to have plenty of space. We did wrap the planter in Saran wrap for the first week or so for a little greenhouse effect as little seeds like that sort of thing. We had growth very quickly. She was thrilled. We removed the Saran wrap after the first two weeks and I continued to water in a drip like pattern because I wasn't about to trust that soil. When it's dry it just blows apart and the seedlings weren't attached well yet. When it's wet, it's too wet. And then there's the mold. Ew. Onto the flowers ... we planted 10 weeks ago - from the date of this review (if I remember to update, I will) It should take cosmos 7 weeks to bloom after planting. They can literally grow in anything and any condition. They're super easy and make flower beds look great. They bloom and continue to bloom until the next frost. But... The cosmos look half dead. And absolutely no flowers. It should take marigolds 8 weeks to bloom. They grow in anything. They thrive in hot/dry weather. They don't care. They're hardy, it's why all our grandmother's planted them. But... The marigolds look okay, but no flowers. It could take zinnias several weeks to several months to bloom. They shouldn't be included in this kit. They need more moisture than the other two and more space. It's not a good choice for this. The zinnias look good but no flowers. And they probably won't bloom. For the flowers...I'm not hopeful. In fact, I may transplant them outside to a larger container and spread them out. Finally... This is a great craft for kids. The kit is easy. The idea behind it is simple. However, the growing medium is crap. The flower packets lack quality. I'm not sure they'll ever grow. The paint is probably super cheap and not meant for tin. Do not pay $30 for this. Buy yourself a small planter, a few packets of seeds, some potting soil, and some paint. Do this yourself for much cheaper and you'll have better results.