One popular household product that’s flying off store shelves is almost guaranteed to fail, says one Aussie gardener.
Ryan, a Victorian gardener behind the YouTube channel Culinary Garden, is calling out the country’s biggest home hardware chains for shilling dodgy carrot seedlings that “won’t grow” simply because “they sell”.
In a recent video posted to TikTok, the gardening enthusiast even went so far as to say it “should be illegal” to sell carrot seedlings and warned his followers to be wary of big nurseries trying to make a quick buck.
@culinary.gardener NEVER buy this plant from a nursery. Don’t get fooled by nurseries. Australian Vegetable garden tips. #vegetablegarden #seedstarting ♬ original sound – Culinary Garden
“It should be illegal to sell as a seedling because when you’re transplanting it, if you so much as touch the roots, it won’t grow,” he said.
And experts from Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA), a not-for-profit gardening charity, seem to think Ryan is right on the money. According to their growing guides, carrots in particular are known for dying after transplantation – a necessary process of replanting newly grown seedlings -, leaving most Aussies unknowingly killing their vege patch dreams before they begin.
After sharing this advice online, Ryan said followers “roasted” him, not believing that a nursery would stock the tricky seedlings because of their “well-known” fail rate.
But in a follow-up video the next day, the amateur gardener proved the comments wrong by revealing Bunnings’s latest promotional TikTok featured carrot seedlings on their own social media accounts.
@bunnings Time to get planting 🌱 #Gardening #GardenTok #Garden #Plants #Winter #Vegetables #Bunnings #BunningsWarehouse #BunningsTok #BunningsTikTok ♬ original sound – Bunnings
“Well, well, well Bunnings, what do we have here? What are you recommending that we’re planting this winter?” Ryan said in his reply video.
“A punnet full of carrots!”
“Don’t buy them. You’re only going to kill them.”
In response to the backlash, Bunnings Greenlife Category Manager Belinda Rakers said that, like many other nurseries and retailers, the warehouse chain sold a wide range of locally sourced plants and seeds that cater to different customer preferences and demands.
“We understand some of our customers enjoy taking the extra time to grow plants from seed whereas others prefer to grow from seedlings,” she told Build-it.
“As with any home-grown vegetable, carrots can grow in funny shapes and sizes which is all part of the fun, and we encourage our customers to give it a go!”
How to grow your own carrots
According to the gardener, buying the seedlings on offer only saved amateurs two weeks of growing anyway, and Aussies were encouraged to simply buy the seeds themselves.
“Carrots are by far one of the easiest vegetables to grow from seed,” he said in a recent video.
“All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds. Cover them. Once they sprout, thin them out to five centimetres apart.
“And that’s all you need to do.”
Other vegetables Ryan suggests Aussies avoid buying from seedlings this winter include lettuce, which he claimed was as easy to grow as carrots, as well as garlic, peas and beans.
If you are set on using seedlings, the SGA recommends using biodegradable pots to increase your chance of success when transplanting or just planting them directly into the garden soil with ample room to grow.
