Comments regarding The Tasteful Garden

Reading some threads last weekend that suggested sources for purchasing tomato plants, I got the notion Monday evening 6/21 to order some plants....went to one of the sources (The Chef's Garden) and saw they had some plants available. anyway, ordered 3 plants (Cherokee Purple, Rose de Berne, Mortgage Lifter), primarily chosen because they were available, by UPS 2nd....they arrived today 6/24.

lovely plants, not the overaged disasters that I sort of dreaded, not too leggy, thick stems that were unbroken, and very nicely packed.

I was impressed by the quality of plants from this vendor, as well as the packaging and speed of despatch!

I ordered 3 tomato plants & one pepper plant.
They arrived beautifully packaged and in EXCELLENT condition. The plants were healthy and strong.
They were not puny weaklings.
I'm very pleased with my purchase.

Just received heirloom tomatoes and herbs, which were shipped promptly on the date I requested. Plants are good size, healthy, and were extremely well-packed. One of the best selections of heirloom tomatoes.

I ordered quite a few herb plants from this company. My experience with them is excellent. Herbs were packaged in protective wrappings and arrived in perfect condition. The plants were much larger than expected. They are extremely healthy and vigorous growers. I planted them 2 weeks ago and they have almost doubled in size, I am not referring to just a few plants, they are all beyond my expectations. I have scoured the local SC stores for herb plants and could not have done better, the variety they offer and their descriptions of the herbs both usage and growing, found on their web site, were very helpful.

I would rate this company with the highest recommendation.

I ordered two pepper and five heirloom tomato plants on Wednesday March 31 and scheduled them to ship out the following Tuesday so that they would arrive by Friday. My plants arrived bright and early Wednesday morning. This was a bit earlier than I expected but it certainly beats having them stay on a truck for days more. The plants arrived well-watered and the tomatoes were over a foot tall and 1/2 inch thick at the stem base. The plants are a little pricey, but the quality of plants and service is absolutely superb. Just three weeks after planting I already have 1 inch fruits!!!

I ordered 6 heirloom tomatoes from this company which I
received about 3 weeks ago. They are very good sized
plants,which arrived in very good condition at the week
I requested.Two of these plants are now blooming. I will
be ordering again.

I was researching heirloom tomato suppliers on the internet as my husband & I wanted to try them this year instead of the DIY store choices. Settled on The Chef's Garden because #1: they were right next to us (Tennessee), so I figured their selections would be happy in our climate; #2: and I was very impressed with their offerings and liked the fact that they focused on just a few catagories--not trying to sell lots of different plants. Received our plants exactly when promised & packaged exactly as shown on website. Excellent quality plants for a very fair price--including shpg cost.

Now we're waiting to taste the fruits of their suggestions and our labor! LOL. CFB :-)

I'd like to add a follow-up about the 3 Bay Laurel trees I got from The Chef's Garden 2 years ago: They were so beautiful I gave two of them as gifts, and I've been told they're doing fine.
The one I kept for myself is planted in a large pot that I bring in every fall to overwinter on the back porch, and is now nearly FIVE FEET tall! It's gorgeous & green & healthy and has never had a single problem whatsoever.
I often pick leaves for cooking and am constantly amazed at how much better everything tastes using fresh instead of dried. That tree is my absolute-favourite plant!

Service was fast and friendly. A small problem was remedied quickly. Great plants, but could use a little more description.

My order arrived in 2 days, extremely well packed, healthy, moist and flourishing. I am impressed by so much with this company. For one, they only ship on Mondays and Tuesdays, ensuring that the plants you ordered arrive at your door before the end of the week. That way there's no danger of them sitting in a warehouse somewhere over the weekend. They are also very courteous, and the communication is outstanding-from the minute you place an order until your order shows up at your house.

Great plants, great customer service... what's not to like??

The plants I received from Chef's Garden are HUGE! Huge and healthy and very, very well packed.

The folks who run this company are also very polite, knowledgeable and they listen to suggestions from customers.

I will be ordering my tomato and tomatillo plants from them from now on.

I had a tomato plant sent to my Mother as a surprise. She got it just 2 days later. It was in excellent condition. The plant was packed well and looked very healthy.

I ordered three heirloom tomato plants that you can't find in many places except as seeds. The plants are great quality and very vigorous. A great site if you love heirlooms but don't have the room to grow them from seed.

I was going to order several pepper plants. Everything was going well until I got to the place in the ordering process to put in a credit card number. The site is not secure. No https and no closed padlock. In order to protect myself, I did not order and I would recommend that no one else order from them via the Internet until they fix this problem. I really hope they do this soon, as the prices and selection are good and others' comments are (so far) very positive.

[ADDED NOTE BY THE GARDEN WATCHDOG ADMINISTRATORS, APRIL 11, 2003: We have looked into this and found that, indeed, The Chef's Garden's website is a secure website and the credit card collection occurs behind a secure connection. However, their site is configured in such a manner that the user does not enter the secure area until the moment they enter the submit button.

The site is secure, from what we can see, however, the method utilized introduces confusion in their customers. We have notified them of the error and suggested a change.

In the meantime, rest assured that they are secure.]

Possibly the best selection of heirloom tomato plants of any growwer. Beautiful healthy plants. Gorgeous herbs.

You cannot go wrong with them.

They are unique in what they do and how they do it. Hard to
explain. Limited catalog, nice prices, human people run it.

I certainly have no complaints.

On 1 to 10 (although a small company) I rate them a 10!

As you might expect, they sell edible herbs and flowers. Very lovely people, not too busy to chat. Plants are great - first rate. Visit in person, if you can - the dogs, Sandy and Sage are friendly, the country beautiful, and the plants etc. are worth having. I'll be going back in person, but I think the web site is also great. A true gem!

If you're looking for top-quality tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and herbs, this is the place for you. The people are very friendly and accessible, and the site is chock-full of info, including smart, practical, easy-to-understand growing tips and luscious recipes.Ordering from the online catalogue is a bit tricky, although it works like a dream if you follow the directions. When they say DON'T hit backspace, and to click on the "Add to Cart" button, not return, they mean it! The shipping/handling charge seemed a bit high to me until the plants actually arrived, but when I saw them I had absolutely no problem with it. ALL the plants were large (8"-10"), exceedingly healthy with deep root systems, smartly packed with what was obviously loving care, and, no kidding, looked as if the only trip they'd made was from my local nursery 5 miles away instead of cross-country! I honestly couldn't believe it. I planted the Carmello tomato on May 25th (today is June 30th), and it has 10 fruits, the largest is the size of a tennis ball! Amazing. Although I planted some tomatoes 3 weeks earlier, their fruits are not this big. I planted Ori & Mandarin peppers (from The Chef's Garden) also on May 25th, and they've all set fruit, even though our weather here in Eastern Iowa has been unusually rainy and cool this year. One of the Mandarins has a pepper that is already over 2" long. Unheard of! After trying to order Bay Laurel trees from several sources (unsuccessfully), I got 3 from The Chef's Garden. Gorgeous, beautiful things! I hope to cherish them for years to come. Although a small operation with a limited catalogue, these folks know what they're doing and take a very hands-on approach. I've ordered thousands of dollars worth of garden supplies from probably 20-25 sources over the years, and I have to say, for live plants, The Chef's Garden is the very, very best I've found. Next year I'll be ordering from them first!