… is just how I felt when I was kindly selected as one of Fennel and Fern’sVictoriana Nursery reviewers. I was given £50 and free reign of their website in which to select my goodies – what fun!
Before starting I gave myself the following criteria:

- to try to select something from as many different categories in Victoriana’s catalogue, of both the plant and non-plant kind

- to choose items I really wanted

- to take the opportunity to try something new – especially some of those I’d read about in Mark Diacono’s A Taste of the Unexpected

- to place an order which would need more than one delivery

Thus I’d have the opportunity to expand my own culinary and growing knowledge as well as testing Victoriana’s service and products.

Victoriana’s website isn’t the prettiest you’ll find out there, but it works well and I liked the option to switch the pictures side of things off to speed things up more.

This also meant the catalogue could be skimmed quickly before switching on the pictures to look at individual items in more detail. It’s also not the most extensive of catalogues, BUT there’s still plenty of choice and I had much, much more on my first cut shortlist than my £50 would allow me to order.

Then having cogitated at great length my final selection was:

• Kaillan Chinese Broccoli seed
• Milly’s Honey Bee Flower Seed mixture
• Window Sill Pick & Pick Again Baby Leaf Kit
• BioFriend Plant-Defence (No. 1 Size – 1250 square metres) – I’m hoping this will help with the chlorosis I find my autumn raspberries get
• Blackcurrant bushes ‘Ebony’ and ‘Ben Lomond’
• Japanese Wineberry bush
• Artichoke Plant ‘Imperial Star’

It was very easy to place my order and I liked the fact that I didn’t have to register an account beforehand. I’m getting really fed up of having to take these out with every other company I have dealings with on the web.

There was an initial flurry of emails between myself and nursery owner Stephen Shirley to make sure that everything was OK and I liked the opportunity I had to give feedback and ask questions about my website experience. I don’t think I was given special treatment because I was a reviewer, I’m pretty sure this is how every customer is treated when they contact the company.

The first part of my order arrived pretty quickly last year and I’m now awaiting the imminent arrival of my artichoke plant and fruit bushes. I’ll let you know how I get on with growing and testing everything out in a later post.