The Roll N Grow Garden Mat: Not Worth the Money

If you're blessed with a green thumb, you likely look forward to beautiful flowers and greenery during the spring and summer. If you're like me, you have a black thumb and could probably kill a cactus. You may gaze longingly at your neighbor's flower garden, knowing that your lawn could never look so nice. Now, according to the makers of the Roll N Grow Garden Mat, you can have a garden full of beautiful, fragrant blooms with none of the work, even if you've never gardened before.

If you've seen the informercial, you know how the Roll N Grow is supposed to work. You roll out a thin, 10 foot cloth, add water, and the 1000 seeds will sprout, leaving you with colorful blooms with no feeding, weeding or stress. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly.

I ordered two and placed the first Roll N Grow exactly as the directions instructed, watered it and waited. And I waited. And I got nothin'. Okay, that's no quite accurate. I did get a few small blooms, but nothing like the gorgeous flowers on the commercial. I tried to contact the company that sells Roll N Grow, but there is no technical assistance number on the package, so I was left on my own to figure out how to make my flowers grow.

I decided to try something different with my Roll N Grow. I tilled a small area, watered it, placed my Roll N Grow on top of the soil, covered it with more soil and watered it religiously. I did finally get the flowers that I wanted, but only after I went through considerably more trouble than the product advertised. If I wanted to till the earth and spread soil, I could have went to my local garden store and bought fresh seeds for a few dollars. If you do buy the Roll N Grow, be prepared to work a little harder and to pay a higher water bill. The mat has to be water twice a day- and it takes a lot of water to keep the mat moist.

At $19.95 for one roll and $7.95 for shipping and handling, the Roll N Grow is a pricey product, especially since it doesn't quite work as advertised. Your money would be better spent on good seeds, fertilizer and a shovel and rake. The Roll N Grow is advertised as 100% guaranteed, but I was never able to contact anyone from the company about any questions, much less about a refund on my first ill-fated flower mat.