It’s An Investment. So, what is the Return On Investment (ROI)?
Karen Skeffington’s garden, Auburn, NH
Look, when you purchase Garden Mats, we realize it’s an investment. But it’s an investment that has many years of return beyond the initial outlay. Let’s do a little Return On Investment (ROI) math. You’ll see that Garden Mats don’t fool around.
If one were to cover a 24′ X 24′ garden plot, it would cost about $400, with staples.
Let’s say you normally would have to weed a 24′ X 24′ garden plot 100 hours throughout an entire season, NOT using Garden Mats. Yet, with Garden Mats, you would only have to weed about 5 hours (if that) all season. At $15 an hour, you do the math, the mats clearly start to pay for themselves in saved labor the first couple months. $400 divided by $15 an hour = 26.66 hours. That means, after 26.66 hours of weeding without Garden Mats, if you had Garden Mats, your investment would start to pay for itself. And we all know, 100 hours of time is money.
And just think, that same $400 investment will last another 9 or more years! Do the math.
So, I would say, that is quite a ROI.
The other investment you make is in your soil. With Garden Mats your soil is not depleted of nutrients because of weeds. So more nutrients go to your plants, with plenty of nutrients left over for following years.
And the last and most important investment you make is in your time. With Garden Mats the remaining 95% of your time can be used to do everything you want to do other than weeding.
Like, read, hike, swim, sew, bake, bike, and nap. And yes, you’ll still have time to do those other things too, like wash windows, clean the gutters, mow the lawn…
That’s my kind of investment. Our time is all we have control over. We have to use it wisely.
Happy Weed Free Gardening!
Peter
The Mat Man
I purchased garden mats 15 years ago and only recently had to replace them. They save me so much time and effort in my garden. I recommend them to anybody who gardens and has had to spend hours weeding. I was devastated when I heard the shop had burned. I am beyond happy to know that they have rebuilt and continue to offer this superior form of weed control to the public. A very grateful and happy gardener Beverly Little Thunder
Beverly — we appreciate your comments a lot. We can espouse how great Garden Mats are, but what really matters is when customers tell it like it is.
I just looked you up. You first ordered on 5/17/2008. Seems like that was ages ago. Thank you again for your great testimonial.
Welcome back! You have had a difficult year, I am sure, and I am hopeful that this year will be a good one for you.
I am 81 and love your mats. Have used them for at least 5 years now & they allow me to keep a 30’x50′ veggie garden going pretty much by myself. My family helps with any heavy lifting. I switched to no-till gardening two years ago & the mats are especially invaluable with that.
This year, I left the mats down over the winter for the second time. The first time, our wicked winter winds here in Grand Isle pulled all of them up, even with using your great long anchoring pins. They have nicely stayed in place so far this winter with the addition of many 4′-long 2×4’s placed over them to help weigh them down. Whatever works!
Thank you for your wonderful comments. Yes, it was a challenging year. And we are grateful to be back.
I have to chuckle because the last two years I have left my mats on all winter too. I pull them up in the spring and spread some manure and I noticed that the no-till method works great. I also like the way it prevents late fall and early spring weeds from gaining a foothold. You used 2 X 4’s to weigh them down from the wind, and I used tomatoe cages to weigh the mats down. Some people use bricks. Like you say, whatever works.
Wishing you many more years of weed free gardening!
Thank you.
I would love to still spread the manure/compost that way, but don’t have the energy for taking up the mats anymore now & don’t want to keep hiring someone to do it. I try to regularly put waste veggie matter under the mats thru the holes as much as possible. Put fertilizer in each hole when I plant and then try to put compost/manure around each plant when a bit bigger. Slow going, but then I am a study in slow motion these days! When I grub out plants, I cut many stems at the soil line & then tuck the leaves under the mat there as much as possible.
What is important is that you replenish the soil with nutrients, which you are doing.
Forgot to add that when I still did take the mats off for the winter, a neighbor would bring down many loads of mulched maple leaves & put 6-9” layer of them down over the whole garden. It kept almost all weeds down & most of disintegrated nicely to become part of the soil before spring planting. There maybe was 2” at most left in places, but it was easy to push that aside a little for seedling planting. Sadly, he is no longer able to do that, so I just started leaving the mats down for spring weed deterence.
So pleased you are back in business! I need to figure out my garden plans to see what else I need to grow before adding more mats. I’m sure I’ll be placing an order!!
As president of our local garden club, so many of our members have inquired about the mats. I only have positive comments to share and yes they are an excellent investment. Hopefully their interest will generate some business for you. Have a wonderful season!!! Dorise
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Thank you for spreading the word. Much appreciated.
Absolutely LOVE my garden mats!! Not only do they save time weeding, they are extremely well made! They work really well in my strawberry garden which is in a surrounding high weed area. The mats keep the strawberries off the soil thus less rotting and cleaner berries. So much easier than using straw. Great product with lots of size options.
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Glad you LOVE your Garden Mats. We love ours too.
Ahhh, strawberries. We love the mats for strawberries too. It won’t be long! Spring is around the corner.