A Cheap Green Thumb At Target

I've always toyed with the idea of growing a garden or at the very least a few vegetables here and there. My girlfriend and I are getting ready to move from our third floor condo to a ground floor dwelling, so there will finally be space and soil ready for planting. It's a hard field to get digging in (puns all intended), so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across a low cost, easy solution.

I don't buy a whole lot of stuff at Target, and when I have to go in there I usually make a beeline for the things I need and close my eyes to all the other stuff that's just calling out to me. I'm a marketer's dream. If left to my own devices I will buy anything and everything. Usually it's in and out to grab some whey protein shake and unsweetened almond milk. But for some reason, on the last visit, the dollar bins were calling my name.

I rummaged through the usual knick-knacks only to find ... Cilantro! In a pot! For a buck! They have these cool little grow kits with things like tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro and some flowers (non-edible so I wasn't interested). And for only a buck you'll still be checking every day for a tiny little growth but won't cry (so much) if the cilantro dies or the green pepper never fully forms. It's about the adventure, the anticipation and the taste of homemade cilantro in your guacamole.

If the green peppers and cilantro work out, I plan on getting some basil, chives and tomato plants. How great would it be to be able to eat 25% to 50% of your diet right off your windowsill? But really, could planting a garden be that easy?

After some deeper investigation I learned that the pots were made by Buzzyseeds.com. The plants that I bought and others like it are available at places like Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, Home Depot, Christmas Tree Shop and Michael’s. They must be doing something right.

My heart sunk a little when I could only find one review of their products on their Web site. It was for the Daisy Grow Kit and read: "it was nice, i liked it. it was, however very very tiny. not half as big as my finger. the daisies over grew in the pot very quickly and it soon needed to be transplanted"

The words “very very tiny” stuck out like a sore green thumb. I wondered how a green pepper would grow out of a pot half it’s size or if I could live off the amount of cilantro that comes in a dixie cup-sized container.

The Web site offers a very generous replacement guarantee. If, for any reason, you’re not satisfied with your tiny plants you can return them for another tiny plant.

I’ve never grown anything, so regardless of the harvest, I’ll be happy with anything that breaks up through the soil into the light. The question is, will there be a harvest?