What are the odds?

I have bets going, 3-2 in favour of Miracle-Gro.
Anyone want to even the odds for Better World?  Anyone?
I have to remain neutral, of course.
But if you win, you get bragging rights, and maybe
a basket of tomatoes. 

May 30th: It’s been 4 days! Can we harvest yet?!

Jeez... this growing stuff takes forever. Pass the cheesepuffs please.

A couple of observations:  MIracleGro raspberry and basil looks equal to BetterWorld.  

Tomatoes look slightly happier on MiracleGro. 

Marigolds are not happy with MiracleGro at all, but doing nicely with BetterWorld. 

Marigolds are not happy with MiracleGro.

Marigolds are shiny happy people on Better World. 

When I first planted this stuff, I , being such a klutz, 

managed to damage the stalks of a couple of the marigolds on the BetterWorld side.  

I’m not sure if you can see it clearly, but the blossom on the left has a kink in the stem. 

This is one of the plants I damaged.  The bloom was clearly hanging south, with a 95º  bend to the stem. In 3 days, this flower has revived and ‘straightened’ to a 15º  bend.  

On Better World. 

All without expensive physio-therapy or chiropractic treatment. 

One other comment: I might have purchased the wrong basil. It’s kind of bitter-tasting, rather than the sweet stuff I prefer. I’m not sure if what I’m tasting is chemical fertilizer from the original hot-house grower (Freeman Herbs  http://www.freemanherbs.com/), or if this is just what Albahaca Columnar is supposed to taste like. Will keep you posted. 

A few people have asked me to include a control sample. 

In the next few days, I’ll do that with a fresh set of herbs and strawberries.  Spread the news! 

May 27th: The first feeding.

I mentioned I was lazy, right?

Feeding the garden is a requirement of this blog —nay, the sole purpose of this blog!— so I best get to it.  How hard can it be, right?

Okay, so let’s look at the competitors:

On the left, wearing the green and yellow trunks— MiracleGro! 

And on the right, in white trunks with fruits on them— Better World Plant Food!

Now, I have to confess to being a typical male. I avoid asking for directions, and rarely, if ever, read assembly instructions. Duct-tape works on everything.  But in the interest of science, I’ll glance at the usage directions for both. 

Hmmmm...... 

Okay, ummmm.... 

Miracle Gro: I’m using this outdoors on vegetables... but they’re in a container box, something like a houseplant. And too much will burn the plants.  No point in killing the experiment too early. Okay... I'll go with the milder blend.

It mixes up easily with water. The blue crystals remind me of the Copper Sulphate I used to play with as a kid. (Do parents still allow 7 yr olds to play with chemistry sets today, or would Child's Aid be called in?) Mixed with water, it’s a pretty tint of light blue, kinda like windshield washer fluid. And probably just as toxic. 

What I don’t do for my readers....

And now the Better World: 

Better World Plant Food gives me two options. I can just toss it on top of the soil and then water the plant normally. That appeals to The Lazy Gardener's Creed. (Rule One: do as little work as possible). But, since the Miracle Gro was mixed with water, I should  follow option two for Better World.  

Let’s see....Mix with water, wait 8 hours!? Wow! This stuff even caters to The Lazy Gardener's Creed, Rule Two: Whenever possible, procrastinate. 

Ten hours later.... 

The Better World Plant Food mixes up to a pale brown fluid, something like the Don River in August, but smells much better. Actually, it’s pretty much odourless. Trust me, with a schnoze my size, you notice odours.  

Not wanting to contaminate my watering can (which might skew results), I add both fluids directly from their individual mixing containers to their respective planters. 

No pictures. Use your imagination. It’s not like the plants suddenly started dancing or anything. But if they do, I’ll be sure to post the video here. 

I might as well add the starting measurements of the various plants here. 

Because size matters to Real Men:

                            MiracleGro Box           Better World Box

• Raspberry                  15.5 in                        13 in

• Basil                           10.0                           10.0

• Tomato                        6.0                             6.0

• Marigold                       5.0                             5.0

Please note, I couldn’t find two raspberry bushes of equal height. These are the starting measurements.

May 27th: The first feeding.

I mentioned I was lazy, right?

Feeding the garden is a requirement of this blog —nay, the sole purpose of this blog!— so I best get to it.  How hard can it be, right?

Okay, so let’s look at the competitors:

On the left, wearing the green and yellow trunks— MiracleGro! 

And on the right, in white trunks with fruits on them— Better World Plant Food!

Now, I have to confess to being a typical male. I avoid asking for directions, and rarely, if ever, read assembly instructions. Duct-tape works on everything.  But in the interest of science, I’ll glance at the usage directions for both. 

Hmmmm...... 

Okay, ummmm.... 

Miracle Gro: I’m using this outdoors on vegetables... but they’re in a container box, something like a houseplant. And too much will burn the plants.  No point in killing the experiment too early. Okay... I'll go with the milder blend.

It mixes up easily with water. The blue crystals remind me of the Copper Sulphate I used to play with as a kid. (Do parents still allow 7 yr olds to play with chemistry sets today, or would Child's Aid be called in?) Mixed with water, it’s a pretty tint of light blue, kinda like windshield washer fluid. And probably just as toxic. 

What I don’t do for my readers....

And now the Better World: 

Better World Plant Food gives me two options. I can just toss it on top of the soil and then water the plant normally. That appeals to The Lazy Gardener's Creed. (Rule One: do as little work as possible). But, since the Miracle Gro was mixed with water, I should  follow option two for Better World.  

Let’s see....Mix with water, wait 8 hours!? Wow! This stuff even caters to The Lazy Gardener's Creed, Rule Two: Whenever possible, procrastinate. 

Ten hours later.... 

The Better World Plant Food mixes up to a pale brown fluid, something like the Don River in August, but smells much better. Actually, it’s pretty much odourless. Trust me, with a schnoze my size, you notice odours.  

Not wanting to contaminate my watering can (which might skew results), I add both fluids directly from their individual mixing containers to their respective planters. 

No pictures. Use your imagination. It’s not like the plants suddenly started dancing or anything. But if they do, I’ll be sure to post the video here. 

I might as well add the starting measurements of the various plants here. 

Because size matters to Real Men:

                            MiracleGro Box           Better World Box

• Raspberry                  15.5 in                        13 in

• Basil                           10.0                           10.0

• Tomato                        6.0                             6.0

• Marigold                       5.0                             5.0

Please note, I couldn’t find two raspberry bushes of equal height. These are the starting measurements.

May 26th: The Planting

It’s hard work living up to my moniker; The Lazy Gardener. 

Setting up the planting beds involved far more physical labour than I usually attempt. All items hauled up three flights of stairs to the back deck in hopes of avoiding nibbling critters, and to give the little green things the full sun they apparently need. 

Here’s the step-by-step process:

Step One: Find two of each plant that are relatively equal in size and quality 

(not as easy as it sounds).

Step Two: Too lazy to build planting beds, I’ll just recycle these old recycling bins. They come with built-in drainage holes and handles; perfect!  Add two inches of gravel for improved drainage. 

Step Three: Add a layer of landscaping mesh. I dunno why. I’m just following the advice of Eric Rosenkrantz of Matchboxgarden.ca , a really helpful, intelligent guy and a great source of organic herbs and veggies. BTW: I didn’t buy my plants at Matchbox only because, for this test, I wanted “working-class plants,” the kind you’ll find in any garden centre. The plants at Matchbox look too good! They’ve been started on Better World Plant Food, so this wouldn’t be a fair test if I used his plants. 

Step Four: Two identical bins, filled with Triple Mix and Black Earth Top Soil.

Step Five: Yikes! These bins hold a lot of dirt! 50 L of soil in each bin. 

Step Six: There! It’s looking pretty good. The planting instructions say the tomatoes should be 24 inches apart. Well, too bad for them! I haven’t got that sort of space. So this will be a test not only of the two plant foods, but also of what can be grown within a confined space. 

Step Seven: Here it is, MiracleGro on the left, Better World Plant Food on the right. Note that the raspberry plant on the left is about 4 inches taller than the one on the right. (There were only two raspberry plants left at the garden centre.)  Otherwise, all the other plants are of equal height.  

Okay, we’re set to grow. I mean, go. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the feeding process. 

The purchase, May 25th

I am indeed, the Lazy Gardener. 

My approach to gardening has always been:  stick it in the ground, add water.  After that, the plant is on it's own. Surprisingly, this has worked well for a number of heartier plants that seem to survive on neglect.

This year, I thought I'd try something a little different. I actually hope to harvest some food from my plantings. This suggested that I might need to put a little more effort into the garden this year. So I've added a third step: feed the plants.

The dilemma: what do I feed them? I'm too lazy to research the nutritional needs of whatever I plan to sow. Thankfully, a recent client of mine gave me some plant food. It's called “Better World Plant Food.”  According to the package instructions (I designed the package BTW), it's “Complete Plant Nutrition” and simple to use.  Sprinkle it on the soil around the plant, and water it. Now that's my kind of garden care!

I thought it might be an interesting experiment to compare Better World Plant Food (an organic plant food) to one of those popular, heavily-advertised chemical-based plant foods. So I got my hands on some Miracle-Gro.

Oh yeah, I guess I need some plants too, huh? I visited my local garden centre (East End Garden Centre, Toronto) and purchased two each of the following: raspberry, basil, tomato, marigolds.  

Here’s a picture of the purchase.

Marigolds, tomatoes, basil, raspberry bushes, ready for the experiment.