Great Big Plants

Yesterday, a brown UPS van pulled into my driveway as I was putting some bareroot roses in water to soak. As usual, I asked him if he brought me anything exciting. He smiled and said, "I don't think it's plants, if that's what you mean." I think I have a reputation.

It was a small white box and I looked at the return address: BIOSCIENTIFIC, INC. Hmmmm ... I do online surveys and am a member of a couple of testing panels and I figured what was inside was a consumer product that I was to test and then would be asked questions about later. When I took it inside and opened it, I was sort of right.

A couple of weeks ago, I'd gotten an e-mail from a company that had read my blog and liked what they saw. They wanted to know if I would blog about their product. I'd never heard of their product. I checked out the reference material for which they'd included the links, and my interest was piqued.

In order for me to blog about something and give it a 'yay' or 'nay,' I have to have actually tried it myself. Oh, I'll mention a product and maybe comment on what I've heard or what others may have experienced with it, but I'm not going to stick my neck out and recommend something that I've never used myself, let alone never heard of. So I e-mailed back and said I'd be happy to blog about it if they'd be willing to send me the product for testing. They were.

So now I have it. It's called Great Big Plants, and it's an organic liquid compost in a concentrated form that you mix with water. It claims to be "a safer, more effective, convenient replacement for traditional compost or manure. Great Big Plants is applied to soil to improve its structure, increase organic matter, and provide key nutrients to produce strong, healthy plants. Unlike compost or manure, Great Big Plants flows to the root zone, immediately nurturing the plants." Makes sense, but will I have Great Big Plants by using it?

I have a quart-sized bottle, which is enough to make eight gallons of enriched liquid compost, but I won't start using it until our growing season begins. Normally, that would be starting right about now, but winter has been dragging its heels on its way out the door. However, we'll soon be in full swing here, and I'll be giving Great Big Plants a try. Then I'll report back here to let you know if you should try it, too.