Comments regarding The Tasteful Garden

I ordered 18 vegetable plants March 21, 2022 and by mid-May, nothing had arrived, so I called them and was told most of my plants were not available due to pest problems. In the past, I had always had perfect customer service from them and received all of the plants (but I did not order in 2021 and my understanding is the original owners sold the biz around then). The woman on the phone offered to send me some of my original order along with some substitutions and a refund of the rest of the order that she could not fulfil. I accepted, and two weeks later, I received 5 unidentified tomato plants which she said were $71.00. I complained that I received none of my original order, and $71 is high for 5 plants. She said that her shipping costs had increased and I explained that should have been told to me before shipping out the 5 plants. My original order was for $167 for 18 plants and that cost included shipping 18 plants. After many phone calls, a lot of emails, and a complaint to the BBB, she said she refunded the entire amount. We shall see.....still waiting for refund. I know the owner is upset that I complained to the BBB, because she emailed to let me know.

"On Jun 13, 2022 6:37 PM, The Tasteful Garden responded with:

Thanks for taking the time to post your experience, Loretta. I have spoken with you a few times on the phone and resolved the error we made in your order, as you know. Most of your comments here are untrue and I won't take the space to argue. In fact we are longtime best friends of the founders of The Tasteful Garden, grew up in Michigan and have been living on our family's Heritage Farm in Alabama since 1998.

Our reputation means a lot to us so it's important that folks know we have fully refunded your order, apologized and explained what happened every which way, sent you screenshots so you might understand what UPS charges for shipping (not us) and still you decide to disparage us online. That's OK, there are many more people who love what we do and we are sorry you are so unforgiving of our mistake.

Most sincerely, Laurie"

After reviewing their pictures and shipping policies, I ordered a couple of tomato plants. They were supposed to ship the first week in June but soon (and after they were supposed to have been shipped) I was told there would be a considerable delay but had no recourse as they do not offer refunds. Still, the plants would be be "guaranteed healthy and between 2-6 inches" upon arrival.

Sadly, they were incredibly smaller than that and the tiny sprigs looked to be about 1 inch tall when they were alive BEFORE they were shipped. Now they looked dead but I followed the instructions with the shipment and hoped that they would bounce back strong. No such luck.

The day after I received them I wrote the company a note asking for a refund. No response until the middle of July when I wrote them again and this time they responded and I was advised that they needed to hear from me within 10 days of when I received the shipment and to include pictures of the plants in their pots. Even then, if they had accepted my complaint I still would not receive a refund. I did send pictures of the dead plants that I had left in my planter in hopes that something might grow. They said they couldn't tell what I had sent.

I write this off to experience. I have bought plants online before with great success but I will never buy from The Tasteful Garden again. Terrible experience.

Tomato plants were backordered for several weeks and when they arrived the were definitely in 4" pots but two of them were about 3" tall and 1 had a broken stem. Although I shared pictures and voiced my disappointment I was told they looked fine and to wait for a few days to plant them. I live in the Pacific NW and our growing season is short and I explained to the that these tiny "plants" would never have time to mature and produce fruit. I would never use this company again for anything!

Hi,
I ordered a large amount of cool season vegetables to have them all arrive dead. I tried for replacements through BBB and the owner would not replace them. I had called this business and emailed the owner only to find out it was an employee using her name and computer to respond to me. I will never order from them again and would like to warn anyone whom might. Stay Away! Please! Or you'll be sorry...

I feel the same as KParr. I find it a poor reflection on their business ethics. Not to mention their gardens! I don't know many gardeners who don't have their own photos of their own plants. I still see the photos on the website, and I still would not buy from them.

It would have been very easy to simply ask for permission in advance. There are few web designers who are not aware of copyright laws, and there are many sources of inexpensive commercial photography available for web use. This kind of thing really irritates me. No one accidentally harvests photos from a personal website.

"

See reply below. The beautiful raised beds at Skippy's Garden were chosen to show how a small city garden using all raised beds could be used with great results."

This website has stolen photographs from a gardening blog (skippy's garden) and used them on the site. The blogger was never contacted or asked for permission to use her photos.

Therefore: I won't buy from them and I'll be telling my friends.

K.Parr

"

We have made contact with this poster as well as the owner of the photos and have resolved this issue. Our policy is to always ask permission of anyone whose photography we use on our site or in our newsletters. This was done in error and we appreciate this poster calling this to our attention."

negative-just in this instance.The failure I had was with the Creole tomatoes I ordered last year.They just didnt grow.They stayed the same size as when I recieved them.It was like a failure to thrieve.Just wanted to let you guys know.All else was just fine. Thank you--Christine Zelmer

I ordered 16 or so plants from this company this year. I recieved several substitutions - a huge disappointment considering I was ordering specific heirlooms that I did not have seed for or could not get elsewhere and had ordered early to ensure I would get these specific varities.

A few of the plants were healthy and strong. The remainder were very, very small, 3 inches, 4 leaf's, tiny weak stems. NONE were hardened off, although when I called, they claimed they were. It was obvious that they had run out of stock, even though my first order had been placed in early March, and had quickly replanted to meet their orders, but had not done it in time. I have been home gardening for 20 years, and growing heirlooms for 7. I know what I am doing. Only a few of the plants from The Tasteful Garden made it. It was a huge waste of money - since they are a pricey $4.50 per plant, but they were only willing to rebate me for for 2 plants. Their position was basically "well, you live in zone 4, so even though you ordered early, other customers who we ship to earlier get priority." Being small is not an excuse for totaly screwing someone who would have been a repeat, high dollar customer for years to come. I highly recommend you order elsewhere.

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It is difficult to have plants hardened off in our area when temperatures in Alabama are over 90 degrees. Tomato plants just don't harden properly at that level. Our apologies for the substitutions, keeping inventory is also difficult when temperatures get high. To prevent this problem, we will not ship plants after mid June for 2006. We regret that our far Northern customers will have to either receive plants early or not at all. Our plants are guaranteed, we will be glad to refund the money for any plants at any time however replacements just could not be sent so late. We apologize for the inconvenience. Cindy
The Tasteful Garden

Just as a note, our plants are $4.25 each and are shipped in 4 1/2" pots, larger than any others on the web."

I bought some plants last year from this company. The owner, Cindy, stated they would grow great in any region, that is absolutely not true. We all know not every plant can grow in every part of the region. The tomatoes I received looked good but performed terrible in my location. I also received pepper plants from this company, they were the punniest things I have ever received, definately not worth the money. I do not recommend dealing with this company. I am sure you can have the same luck buying seeds and growing your own at the prices they charge.

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We offer plants for those that don't have the time or the inclination to plant seeds. Our plants are healthy and strong, however we cannot guarantee that heirlooms will be productive no matter the weather conditions or growing situation. We do make very specific recommendations on using mulches and compost that can improve growing results. That said, we will make sure that every customer is satisfied by replacing any plant that does not produce. Even a year later. Heirlooms are not Better Boys and can be very limited in the amount of tomatoes they produce. They are also without disease resistance which can create problems in areas which are likely to have blights and fungus in wet years. The reward in growing heirloom tomatoes is that the flavor is fantastic which no one will dispute and yes, we believe that all tomatoes can grow in any region as long as they are grown under the proper conditions.

As to our peppers, they did run small last year because of a late start due to germination problems. Our peppers have improved this year but hot peppers are still very slow to grow and should normally be ordered separately to plant later in the season when soil temps are higher. Again, any plant that does not thrive has our 100% guarantee, but in order to replace them we have to be notified that there has been a problem."