As you may already know, Urban Leaf is focused on catering to the unique needs of indoor and urban gardeners. The attributes that make a plant well suited to growing indoors or in an urban setting are often completely different to what makes them well suited in a more traditional gardening setting (i.e. outdoors).
A Different Approach To Gardening
What makes Urban Leaf's approach unique as that when sourcing their seeds, most gardening companies will optimize for cost. The cheaper the better.
For indoor gardening customers, our goal is to source cultivars that:
- Have dense and compact overall size and stature,
- Are hardier,
- Have lower light tolerance, or
- Are better suited to hydroponic growing
The reality is that these seeds are not cheap. In fact, in some cases, we pay nearly 100x per seed compared to more widely available 'generic' varieties.
You may also be aware that we sell through both our website and on Amazon.com. One of our biggest learnings about selling on Amazon.com is that it's really really hard to charge a premium for premium quality (and high cost) products. Amazon.com is a highly price-sensitive marketplace, where shoppers tend to seek out the best-value offering.
Amazon - A Different Approach Is Necessary
This week we launched the first two products from our new Amazon-specific product range - a new Herb Seed Collection and Herb Starter Kit.
Designed specifically for sale on Amazon.com, these products will offer no-frills and maximum value. They are also USDA-certified Organic. These seeds are best suited for outdoor or container gardening.
Website - Premium Offerings Will Live Here
Our website is where you will continue to find our premium seed cultivars, carefully curated and tested for indoor and urban gardeners. A good example of one of the varieties we will be offering here is 'Everleaf' Basil. Due to its cost per seed, the only way you're likely to find this in a store is as a live plant. Starting this holiday season, Everleaf basil will be available in our Garden Trio Kits as well as Culinary Classics Bottle Garden Kits.
Why Spend 100x more on seeds?
You may rightly be asking yourself why on earth would I want to be paying 100x more for seeds?
Although the gardening industry offers a near endless supply of gadgets and devices to help you grow, the truth is that most people overlook the 'natural' advantages that seed selection can offer. In much the same way that some ethnicities and races of people tend to outperform at various Olympic sports events, some cultivars of seeds will tend to outperform indoors.
In our own testing, we found that some cultivars look and taste much better than others - as summarized below.
If you're dealing with a small indoor growing space, you generally don't need the tallest plant. What you really want is the plant that will yield the maximum amount of consumable foliage for the 'volume' of space it takes up.
After a desktop study that included the review of over 30 different 'basil' cultivars, we recently put 4 of them to the test in a grow trial. These plants were all grown indoors, in 'less than ideal' conditions. They didn't have a proper feeding regime. They didn't have enough light. We even forgot to water them some days. We were trying to mimic 'real world' conditions ;)
Everleaf, shown on the left hand side, was a clear standout. This is why it was an obvious choice to include in our kits. Although it is usually reserved for commercial growers due to its cost, we're pleased to be able to make it available to at-home gardeners like you! If you do give it a shot, we'd love to hear what you think. Please leave us a review or comment below.
In Conclusion
The bottom line here is that if you're looking for value-for-money and plan to garden outdoors, then we recommend you shop for Urban Leaf via Amazon.com. If, however, you plan to grow indoors or a compact urban space then our website offerings are likely a better fit.
If you're interested in learning more about indoor gardening and what it takes to be successful, a great place to start is our (free) eBook below. Why not grab your copy now?
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