Scams are seemingly multiplying these days, including those connected with gardening. I’ve experienced a few personally, but they’re typically more the rural-style con game, like offering to paint my metal roof at a too-good-to-be-true price. A few internet searches later, and I found the man’s name in various farm-centered discussion boards and on the Better Business Bureau as a likely conman.
As always, if something sounds too good to be true, or if someone’s pushing you to buy right now, alarm bells should be going off.
Landscaping scams: There’s a few different landscaping scams around Georgia, and most have been around for a few years. This is good because it’s relatively easy to double-check by heading to the BBB website, looking at the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection division or entering the name of the person and/or company and “scam” behind it in the search bar. The most popular in the state seems to be a pine straw scam where landscapers offer to spread super-cheap pine straw, then run up the bill by spreading many more bales than in the original agreement. Another landscaping scam can come in the form of a “discount” by paying for lower-than-average services with something other than a credit card, like cash or apps like Apple Pay. Such apps (and cash) are harder to reverse than credit card charges. The landscaper walks off with a non-refundable deposit, and the customer never gets their lawn cared for.
Soil tests: Some scams are less the snake-oil variety and rely more on people being ill informed. The soil test kits I’ve seen sold in stores for $35 fit into this category. Your county extension office will charge you $8 for the same soil test. Of course, you have to go to the extension office or one of the many events where master gardeners, naturalists and composters volunteer their time and expertise to pick up the appropriate paper bag for your sample. You then have to fill it up with dirt and drop it off at the extension office instead of mailing it in, but the little inconvenience seems well worth the savings. If you’ve got a gardening budget like I do, you know a few extra dollars can buy a lot of seeds.
Fake plants: I have seen some wild stuff online—begonias that look like butterflies, striped roses, iridescent sunflowers, plants that look like cats. There’s some gnarly AI-generated bull out there. If you’re a beginner gardener, you might not know the difference between the iridescent glow of a real sea holly versus the fake glow of a shimmery sunflower. Stick with well-known plant purveyors to avoid being duped. I’ve seen some of these scammers market themselves with labels like “non-GMO” and “organic,” because it helps sell the lie. If you’re not sure, ask a gardening friend or Reddit gardening group.
Peat pots: Not sustainable or helpful. Peat pots are expensive, and likely won’t help you germinate seeds. It feels like they’re better for the environment because they biodegrade, right? Peat pots come from peat moss, a non-renewable resource and a great carbon bank for the world. There’s been a lot of conversation about the sustainability of using peat moss in seed-starting mixes. Destroying an important carbon sink in order to grow some veggies does seem at odds. I’m also of the opinion that peat pots make seed germination more difficult. Peat pots wick moisture away from your seedlings more quickly than expected, and have a tendency to become hydrophobic. If you water too often, the same peat pots can become waterlogged and set up the perfect conditions for disease. I find that sturdy and reusable plastic and clay pots are the best. These allow soil to dry off at a more predictable pace (clay pots tend to dry out faster) and last years, even left outside for months at a time.
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