Maybe you’ve heard of this already or maybe you’ve seen it in the stores yourself but Triscuit is promoting the “home farming” movement. It’s an interesting idea that backyard gardeners have been doing for many many years. Simply put home farming is growing your own food in the home garden. While gardening may be an all inclusive term to describe everything from ornamentals to vegetables home farming targets the edibles. As a society we’ve drifted away from the homegrown foods in favor of year round availability but that trend is changing as it should.
To encourage more people to participate in the backyard edible growing experience Triscuit has started incorporating basil and dill seeds into the boxes of the snack crackers. The regular Triscuits contain the basil while the reduced fat have the dill. They sent me two boxes of Triscuits so that I could try this out for myself.
Here’s how they recommended starting the basil and dill seeds:
The seeds are contained in cardboard cards that need to soak for 2-4 hours.
After they are done soaking you peel the cards apart to reveal the seeds. They come apart very easily after the soaking. The soaking also begins to hydrate the seeds which will eventually trigger germination.
According the instructions the recommend planting the cards directly into 8″ pots then cover them with 1/4″ of soil.
Triscuit also sent me a $20 gift card to purchase potting soil and these two nifty little pots. The glazing helps keep more moisture inside of the terracotta pots which tend to dry out quickly. The larger pot which holds the basil seeds is 8″ and the smaller pot with the dill is 7″.
I think it’s a neat idea to ship food products with the seeds contained in the packaging. By sending seeds through their cracker boxes they are giving an opportunity for some of those who may have never considered planting seeds to give it a try. Herb seeds are easy to grow and once a newcomer to gardening has a little success they are addicted! Maybe next year Triscuit will consider heirloom tomatoes for their free seeds. I’ll bet a Brandywine tomato and a Triscuit would make a great combination!
We had no idea that Triscuits was doing something like putting seeds into the boxes. What a great idea. We know that Sunchips has biodegradable packaging so you can throw the package right into the compost and it decomposes! I'll have to go buy triscuits!
Great idea! I do hope folks plant the seeds.
We love Triscuits – I buy them all the time, but I haven't seen the seeds included.
Eileen
Thanks for reminding me to plant the card on my counter, Dave! We love triscuits, high in fiber! and have basil seeds waiting to be soaked. Thanks for showing exactly how it's done.
Frances
What a cool idea. I do remember reading about Triscuits and gardening, but hadn't seen the boxes with seeds yet.
That is a great idea. I will have to watch for this product. I'll also plant the seeds.
I planted Triscuit basil twice this spring, and one plant made it and is doing fine. I agree that this is a great trend to be spreading.