Tag Archive for: product review

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

I love my garden, filled with trees that provide welcome filtered shade along with flowering shrubs. While my garden gives me joy, it does take maintenance to keep it healthy and looking its best.

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

The primary maintenance chore I have is pruning, which I enjoy doing. 

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

What I don’t like is cleaning up the clippings, and I often ask my kids to drag them to the trash can or the curb for bulk pickup. However, that was then, and I have a new tool to help me with dealing with the aftermath of pruning. My new Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder will take the stems and small branches and shred them into mulch.

*As a brand ambassador, I was provided the CS4295 Chipper Shredder free of charge, for my honest review.

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

The chipper shredder has two areas where you can insert plant material. The top part is called the ‘hopper’ and is where stems and branches that are less than the width of the pencil are added, which are pulverized into mulch that is expelled into a white bag attached off to the side.

chipper chute

Branches under 2-inches in diameter are fed through the ‘chipper chute’ and are expelled into the collection bag. It was fun to use and I was pleased with how quickly my pile of branches was decreasing in size.

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

In the end, my two large piles were reduced to a much smaller pile of shredded leaves and stems. Instead of throwing out piles of plant clippings, I now have great material for my compost pile. It is also suitable to use as mulch for putting around my plants. However, you’ll want to age the mulch for 3 – 6 months before applying or it can use up the nitrogen that plants need while it breaks down.

Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder

This photo says it all. My Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder took two piles of branches, that would have filled up most of my trash can, and reduced them to a small pile of mulch suitable for my garden. 

*Disclosure: As a Troy-Bilt brand ambassador, the chipper shredder was provided to me at no cost by TroyBilt to review for my honest opinion.

Vintage Wooden Window Garden Planter Box Kit

*This post contains affiliate links for a product that I have used. If you click on the affiliate link and buy the product, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links help to support this site. Thank you for supporting Ramblings From a Desert Garden.

The Christmas season is in full swing and if you are like me, you are busy shopping for the perfect gift for that special somebody in your life.  My gift list is rather long with five kids, three grandchildren, my husband, siblings, nieces, nephews, and my mother.   As a result, quick trips to the store have been inserted into my busy schedule.  This includes dropping by the store on date nights with my husband.

Whittling down my Christmas list online has become my favorite way of finding special items for loved ones.  Just a few minutes sitting at the computer (or on your phone) and you’re done.  It turns out that you can buy just about anything online and that is certainly true of items for gardeners in your life.

As a horticulturist and garden writer, I get to see a lot of products with a garden theme.  So, in anticipation of Christmas and to help you with your shopping list, I am going to feature creative gift ideas, for the next few weeks, for those in your life who like to grow things.

The folks at Dryden Trading Company asked me to try their Vintage Wooden Window Garden Planter Box Kit and sent me one free of charge for me to review.

indoor herb kit

Indoor Herb Kit

VINTAGE HERB KITS

I’m particularly excited about this gift idea as I enjoy growing herbs throughout the year. I grow herbs outdoors all year in my Arizona garden, but I’ve also grown them indoors on my kitchen windowsill, which is why I was excited to try this all-in-one indoor herb kit.

VINTAGE HERB KITS

The kit arrives in a very nice rustic, wooden box complete with lid.  There are several colors available and I chose the white one. Everything you need is inside the box – plastic planting tray, soil, seeds, plant markers, chalk, and instructions.  All you need to supply is water.

indoor herb kit

1. Add soil to the plastic planting tray.  The soil doesn’t completely fill the tray – but not to worry, this is Wonder Soil.

indoor herb kit

2. Add water to the soil.  Immediately, the soil began to expand making sounds like those you hear when you add milk to Rice Krispy cereal – kids would love to watch this stage.

indoor herb kit

As you can see, the soil now reaches to the top of the plastic tray.  

indoor herb kit

3. Plant herb seeds. The kit comes with five packages of herb seeds with enough seeds left over to plant a second crop.  You can always plant your own seeds as well.  I planted all five varieties of herb seeds, although I must admit that I don’t like cilantro.  However, people in my family do, so I planted it.

indoor herb kit

4. Add plant markers.  Popsicle sticks with blackboard paint are a very cute way to identify the newly planted herbs.  As I mentioned before, the vintage herb kit includes everything you need, even a stick of chalk.

indoor herb kit

Seeds are planted, plant markers are in, and now it’s time to find the right spot for my new planter.

indoor herb kit

5. Place in an area where the herbs will receive at least 6 hours of sun.  I have a sunny kitchen window which works perfectly.

I am looking forward to seeing little green herbs poke up through the soil.  Better yet, I can hardly wait to use them to flavor my favorite dishes.  

If you have someone on your Christmas list who likes to garden or cook with fresh herbs, this would be an excellent gift idea.   You can visit their website to see the different options for ordering a vintage herb garden for a loved one or yourself.

**Come back soon for more gift ideas for those who love to garden.