blog giveaway Archives - Growing With Plants

My Earth Day Giveaway – Disposable Compost Bins by Postmodern

Matt Mattus — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 23:49:00 +0000

These new compostable food scrap boxes introduce a new system which is 100% compostable, all designed by two of my good friends. I want to share a month’s worth with you, as an Earth Day Giveaway.

Thanks everyone! Contest is over.

Continue reading, below:

+++++ Congratulations to our winner – KAREN, the third commenter, below.++++

Please contact me via the contact tab on the right, so that I can get your mailing address. Thanks everyone and happy Earth Day Weekend!

I don’t do many giveaways, and believe me, I get asked every, single day to do about ten! But a couple of weeks ago, one of my friends who I have worked with for over 15 years at Hasbro called me to say “Hey Matt, it’s Gabe….do you really write a gardening blog? Because your name keeps coming up when we look to promote one of our new products that we designed.’.

My friends Gabe and Glen designed this pretty interesting disposable compost bin, I think lots of you might love this product over the plastic bags or ceramic kitchen containers which require washing.

Funny how friends, at least those like Gabe who really know me more through my professional design work than they do through the gardening world. Gabe and his business partner Glen run a well known design firm, Platform, Inc, and we’ve known each other through the many design projects that we have worked together over the years, both through my speaking at design conferences, and through How Magazine stories and talks – but sometimes, worlds collide like this, and really, when that happens, it’s pretty cool.

Click below to learn more:

Every bit of this product is safe, for both us, and the environment.

Made from 100% recyclable material (wheat fiber and a spec of starch), these containers never leak and hang just inside your cabinet under the kitchen sink. After 2 weeks or so, just toss it into your compost bin!

You see, Gabe and Glen live in Seattle, where recycling is far more popular than it is here in New England for some reason. Gave was telling me how they came up with this idea for designing and producing a compost bin that was 100% recyclable and all natural. It;s a long story, but it involved a lunch take-out container at Chipotle, and a trash can. You get it.

Don’t worry about this leaking, it’s pretty much good for at least 2 weeks, plus, the lid is tight fitting, so no smell.

When Gabe explained to me how this amazing product works, I offered to feature it on my blog, since it fits in so nicely. of course, one does this sort of thing for friends, but Gabe wanted me to really test it out first, so that I could take pictures of it in action. Unfortunatly, the hanger which comes with the produce doesn’t fit under our circa 1926 sink and cabinets ( they are working on that part) and even though I could still use these for kitchen scraps and toss the entire product out into the compost pile, I think that I would rather do a giveaway – and then have one of you write the review!

After all, the way we compost here isn’t like how most people do – with chickens, turkeys and ducks that do a good job or the organics, the rest all goes into a massive pile near our woodland which has been a ‘compost pile’ for nearly 100 years. It produces yards and yards of compost every year, which makes it back into the garden, so in many ways, this product really isn’t for me. But if you recycle, or have a compost bin in your kitchen, or in the garage, this may be the perfect product for you.

Check out their website here, for more information

Giveaway rules are simple and standard, all I ask is that you ‘like’ the product on Facebook here then visit their website (you know, it’s all a numbers game!), and then leave me a note with your name ( not anonymous!), and Sunday night at 9:00 EST I will post who one using a randomizer to select the names in order that they were received starting with 1, and with duplicate names removed. You could win an entire months worth of Postmodern bins and a metal hanger. Simple. And, Good luck!

The post My Earth Day Giveaway – Disposable Compost Bins by Postmodern appeared first on Growing With Plants.

Free Giveaway: Troy-Bilt Gas Leaf Blower and Automatic Engine Starter

Matt Mattus — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:32:00 +0000

WILL THIS AWESOME GAS-POWERED LEAF BLOWER FOR FREE!

Thanks to the good folks at Troy-Bilt, you can win a free Troy-Bilt Gas Powered Leaf Blower plus a free automatic JumpStart Engine Starter, which features a rechargable 12 volt lithium battery, which will eliminate the pull start often required with gas-powered gardening tools. We have one of these ourselves, and if you have never used a gas powered leaf blower, you don’t know what you are missing. They are much more powerful than rechargable cordless ones, making the task of blowing leaves incredibly easier. We never considered even getting a leaf blower until our tree-workers pulled one out of the truck one day to clean-up after cutting down a couple of our tall trees.

All you have to do is three things ( if you haven’t done it already). First, leave a comment on this post, as this is how randomizer will select the winner at 9:00 PM on this coming Sunday night. Second, join Growing with plants’ Facebook Page, and third, follow this blog by “joining it as a follower” on the grid box with the little pictures in it on the right hand side of this page. These all may seem like silly rules, but each one helps me tremendously, in building SEO ( Search Engine Optimization) as well as improving my blog status in ratings. After all, it’s all a numbers game! As as I am currently the number 14 ranking gardening blog worldwide, wouldn’t it be great to be rated in the top ten!

If you are selected as the winner, Troy-Bilt will send a brand new Leaf Blower and Automatic Starter (nearly a $200 value!) directly to you next week!

The post Free Giveaway: Troy-Bilt Gas Leaf Blower and Automatic Engine Starter appeared first on Growing With Plants.

Best Giveaway Ever! – Win a New Troy-Bilt Cultivator

Matt Mattus — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 02:26:00 +0000

LYDIA WATCHES ME ( UNDER MY WATCHFUL EYE!) CULTIVATE ONE OF THE RAISED BEDS WHERE THE SWEET PEAS WERE GROWING, AS I TURN-IN A GREEN MANURE CROP OF RYE WITH THE NEW BATTERY-POWERED CORDLESS CULTIVATOR BY TROY-BILT. NOW YOU CAN WIN ONE TOO -COMPLETELY FREE!

Are you ready for the biggest giveaway that I have ever participated in, ( I know, this is a good one!) Thanks to the nice people at Tory-Bilt, who first had me try out a new product of theirs – the new Troy-Bilt Cordless Battery Powered Cultivator – now you too – my faithful readers – can win the same model for free! All courtesy of Troy-Bilt. To win, all will need to do is three easy things.( I know, I know…, but these little things do make a huge difference in my on-line ratings!).

1. Go an Fav Growing with Plants on Facebook ( if you haven’t yet)

2. Follow Growing with Plants ( if you havn’t yet)

3. leave a comment ( so that I can use randomizer to choose the winner). Be sure to add the phrase TROY-BILT in your comment.

It might be nice to also visit their Facebook Page, and fav them too!

The Troy-Bilt contest ends on Saturday night at 9:00 PM EST, and I will announce the winner Sunday morning.

Troy-Bilt will send you directly a brand new cultivator just like the one above.

I tested out this cultivator with a little scepticism, recently, roto-tilling has been scrutinized for ruining soil structure, destroying worms and networks of microbes, but in certain situations, tilling the soil is still necessary – for example, brand new garden beds with sod removed, clay soil which is dense and heavy requiring added organic material, or in my case, new raised beds that have the perfect blend of organic material, ( I’m not bragging, but a could of my beds are loose and deep with loamy compost, so a good tilling helps mix in a green manure or cover crop). This time I used composted hay – yes, I could use a pitch fork, but with a cover crop or green manure, a soil cultivator is essential. I have a giant- old fashioned rototiller( the big ‘ol Troy-Bilt model we have in the shed)but it is so heavy and powerful, that we only use it for corn and potatoes in the large vegetable garden out back. If you have raised beds, a cultivator was never an option.

CHECK OUT THE WEEDS! REALLY, BY LATE AUGUST, I JUST ABOUT GIVE UP, AND ALLOW THE SQUASH AND PUMPKINS TO JUST TAKE OVER EVERYTHING!

Now, with this battery powered model, raised bed gardeners have an easy option. First thing that I noticed, is that this device is light and easy to transport. I can lift it with one hand. Second, and this is important – it was easy assemble right-out-of-box, ( I’m not that handy with power-tools). Third, it is battery powered, so no gasoline, oil or electric cords. I would add that it may not be powerful enough to break sod, or till deeply, but given that few of us till in the same way we did 20 years ago, this is the perfect device – I will use it for weeding, as I can adjust the tines to cut only the surface of the soil, so next year, I will plant beans and potatoes in rows with just enough distance so that I can cultivate between the long rows. I probably won’t use this in my raised beds, but I will use it out back in our back 40, where I grow long rows of crops like peas, beans and potatoes. Hand weeds long rows is impractical given my schedule.

LYDIA AND FERGUS INSPECT THE BED LOOKING FOR – WELL, BONES, I GUESS.

I AM USING THE FRESHLY CULTIVATED BED AS A HOLDING BED FOR MY EXHIBITION CHRYSANTHEMUMS, AS I STAKE THEM. I HAVE BEEN NEGLECTING THEM, BUT I THINK I CAN STILL SAVE THEM WITH A LITTLE TLC. THESE WILL BE 5-6 FEET TALL BY NOVEMBER- EACH TRAINED TO THREE STEMS AND DISBUDDED TO ENCOURAGE LARGE FLOWERS FOR DISPLAY.

++++++++++++ CONGRATULATIONS++++++++++++++

To reader -EMILY from Elkins Ark.!! For winning the Troy-Bilt Cultivator!
Thanks for participating everyone!

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