Opinions needed!

joshbend55

Hi all, I’m looking to start a gardening subscription box service where people will receive a box full with everything they need to grow a type of flower and a type of vegetable/herb.

The Box will be aimed at new gardeners without a lot of experience or who are new to gardening completely and my overall aim is to help increase the number of people interested in gardening across the UK. 

The box will include the following:
1x type of flower seed, 1x type of veg seed, 2 pots, 2 soil, 2 labels and instructions on how to sow and maintain the plants to fruition. 

The Box will change every month so you would always get something different that is right for the current growing period; this will be £16 per month with free delivery (uk mainland)

I’d really appreciate if people could pass their opinions on the above and give some feedback.

Thanks!
Josh  

Hostafan1

Does one have a choice on the variety of "flower" and "veg"?
£16 seems a huge sum for 2 packets of seed and enough compost to grow them.

joshbend55

Potentially, it’s something I’ve looked at. 
It could be that you get to choose from a selection of seeds each month. 

i appreciate that £16 is a rather large sum so is there anything you would like in there that isn’t included to make it more worth the money? Ie more seeds/pots? Etc 

Thanks for the reply! 

Hostafan1

I can't see that many folk, even very keen gardeners, would be planting seeds every month of the year.

fidgetbones

For £16, I could get a book out of the library, two sacks of compost, and a load of seeds from Lidl.  I doubt  this will work. Most gardeners have a mass sowing time in February , March.   M&S were giving away peat pots pre sown with a few herb seeds, that you only had to water and put on a windowsill. I declined them and the lady on the checkout said a lot of others did too.

B3

I don't think I'd want to pay that price even for plug plants nor would I really want seeds every month.
Why don't you put less in the pack and lower the price.
Just send seeds plus a bonus surprise packet. I like a surprise. Like a book club for seeds.
You could sell the paraphernalia separately to those who order it.

raisingirl

This forum is probably not the right place to ask the question - most people here regularly enough to answer (rather than ask) a question are moderately experienced or at least sufficiently enthusiastic to do a bit more research.

I can see it working, although I think you may need to vary things a little. I think you'd need to assume that most people would only do it for one year, at the end of which they'd either go it alone or give up. So if someone signed up for 12 months, they'd get 2 or 3 packets of seasonally appropriate seeds each month but the other bits that go with them should be less consistent and maybe more seasonally appropriate. By the end of the 12 month period then you'd have most of the small paraphernalia you need.

So send a slightly bigger bag of compost every 3 months rather than one a month. A packet of labels and a pencil. A seed tray rather than a pot to go with some seeds that are better grown that way. I use 6 module trays a lot - it's a handy number for a lot of things. A half tray with a clear plastic 'lid' to act as a windowsill propagator when you send chilli seeds. A dibber if you send leek seeds. String and short canes when you send out the bean seeds or some netting with the brassica seeds. A pair of lightweight snips with the sweet peas. A pair of lightweight gloves once a year.

I'd offer different subscriptions - one for garden flowers, one for cut flowers, one for outdoor veg, one for pot veg, one for herbs, one for windowsill/window box growing as a way to get some repeat business.

Jellyfire

I think its a great idea. Agree with @raisingirl in regards to the flowers/cut flowers/veg etc, and we are not really your target market on here.

Obviously its much cheaper to buy your own seeds and compost, but its much cheaper to buy your own ingredients to make meals, yet hello fresh etc. are doing really well. (They work on the principle that you are taking all the effort out of cooking by having all everything pre-measured, and using unusual spices you wouldnt be able to get from tesco to create very nice, healthy meals very easily.)

I think you probably need to work along the same principles. Correct amount of compost/vermiculite etc rather than a big bag every few months. I also think the key is that your seeds need to be a little unusual, so that the flowers/veg are not something you will easily find in local sainsbury's. 

To continue the handholding method I would have something like a calendar, or email alerts that tell you when to do the next job (Prick out seedlings - time to pot them on etc) You may also need to send larger pots for previous seeds further down the line for that. 

The most important thing I would say is doing all you can to make sure the seeds are viable and have a good chance of a novice successfully growing them. If their first batch die after a few weeks as they are temperamental plants that are difficult to grow then you will have cancellations galore.

Good luck, I think there is a lot of potential in it myself 

joshbend55

Thanks everyone for the comments, I really appreciate the feedback! I think I’ll work on the idea with the above ideas and see if I can change up the idea I have to make something more appropriate for all types of gardeners 

Obelixx

You'd have to consider different garden needs too - soil, aspect, exposure.   So seeds for shade, dappled shade, full sun, acid soil, alkaline soil, well-drained soil, moisture retentive soil.   Complicated.

Hostafan1

You'd also need to factor in the location of customers and those in the South sow seeds earlier than those in the North.