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I first heard about this product on Facebook. It's one of those things where you say to yourself, "why didn't I think of that?"

I grow veggies in containers to extend my garden space and get so aggravated each year pulling those little packing peanuts from the roots of the previous years' plants. Not to mention not liking having Styrofoam anywhere near my edible plants. I've used pebbles, too, to help with drainage, but they can really make the pot heavy.

On top of that I go through a great deal of potting soil, which inevitably ends up in my compost.

When I saw these inserts I was thrilled. The concept is simple: Place an insert partway down your pot then fill with potting soil and plants as you normally would. You use less soil, the pot is lighter, and its better for the plants.

I've started the experiment with two 12 inch pots. I placed a covering of foam peanuts in the bottom of one and the insert in the other.

Here's the stats so far:

 I then filled with potting soil. I planted each with three small tomato plants I started from seed, as close in size as possible; watered each and placed back under the grow-light I was using for the plants. (I later removed one plant from each for another product trial.) Here's how they look Day 1 (3/27/10):

Wish them luck!

Update 4/18/10 A pictures worth:

Ups-a-Daisy on the left, control plant on the right. The plants are so much healthier, I didn't expect this so soon.

Update 5/17 The control plant is having definite issues, losing a lot of leaves. The differences in size is one thing, but the Ups-a-Daisy Plant is much healthier. It even has a bud cluster!