Garden, Product Review, Vegetables

Sproutbox Garden Review: 2 Year Update (Updated for 2025!)

I have now had my Sproutbox Garden for 2 entire seasons so I thought it was time to give an update! This update is going to be short and sweet since I did a comprehensive review on the product (including how to build it and the price) in another article. If you missed it you can check it out here!

A quick reminder that I am a brand ambassador for Sproutbox Gardens. I work hard to provide honest reviews on products which is why I wanted to give you a 2 year update. If after reading this review and the original one you feel that Sproutbox Gardens is the right fit for you, I have a discount code that can save you 10% on your purchase – UGC10!

Now that I’ve finished my 3rd growing season with my garden, you can find year 3 updates throughout the article.

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How the Sproutbox Garden Has Held Up

Okay – I’m going to first talk about how the garden has held up! Since it’s a coloured garden, the most obvious thing that could go wrong is that the panels rust or lose colour.

Coloured Panels

After 2 years of weed-wacking the base of the garden, there are no signs of scratching which is really impressive. I do have a couple scuffs on my garden though which I don’t know how I got them. They’re too high up to be from the weed-wacker so my guess is I bumped it with the wheelbarrow or some other tool at some point.

I do have the same issue with the colour as I mentioned 2 years ago. As nice as the white is, it really doesn’t make sense for a garden or yard because it gets so dirty. If you don’t mind cleaning your garden panels off with a hose every so often than it really isn’t an issue, but for me I just don’t have the time so it’s my only complaint!

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Garden Shape

When I first filled up my garden I had an issue where the tension rod seemed to be doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do. My assumption is that the tension rod is meant to keep the garden from bowing out, but mine is pulling in. When I first built the garden it wasn’t as bad as it is now.

Until recently, I never talked to Sproutbox about it so it’s partially my fault. It turns out this has happened to a few other gardeners with the 32″ garden, and specifically with the 5×5 configuration. I haven’t been able to confirm this yet since the garden is still full of plants, but potentially there are branches pushing down the tension rods since I filled it using the Hugelkultur method.

Additionally, I think that the package may have missed some tension rods. From what I gather, there are a bunch of rods sent and you put three of them together – however they aren’t labelled by length or which should be put together so I think I installed them incorrectly. I also think I might have only gotten one when there should have been 2 but again, I can’t confirm this until I dig up the garden! Either way, it sounds like an issue that doesn’t happen to many people so it isn’t something to worry too much about.

Year 3 Update: At the end of our 3rd season we dug up the garden to build it in a new shape. Since Sproutbox said they’ve only had 2 people experience this issue (lucky me!) it seems to be specific to the 5’x5′ shape so it was time to put in the work to empty the garden and reshape it. We switched the garden to the 6’x3.5′ shape and I actually prefer it. Although it has a smaller growing surface, it’s easier to access the centre of the garden and fits into our space better. When we removed the soil we found that the three tension rods had severely dropped down, the rods attached to the panels had pulled down while the centre one remained flat. I can’t guarantee what happened on it as there was only a single, thin branch over the rods so it shouldn’t have been enough to collapse the entire garden but when we rebuilt it, there was no issue with the panels being ruined. The garden looks back to how a normal metal garden should look.

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All About My Plants

In my opinion this is the most important aspect of any garden, how well did my plants grow. And honestly, both years I’ve had a REALLY good garden. It could be partly the weather we’ve had, which is lots of rain (so they keep getting that good water) but I also think that the height of the garden is playing a part. Compared to the shorter raised beds, my plants have so much space to grow their roots and I think that the 32″ height is helping them grow bigger and better.

Overall Thoughts

I’m very impressed with how well the colour is holding up, and of course, how well my plants are doing. I just don’t like that the tension rod is pulling the planter in, but my laziness between emailing Sproutbox mixed with knowing I would have to dig out my garden to get access to the tension rod is stopping me from fixing it.

If I fixed the issue, would I love my garden? I would, yea. Because if you saw that picture above, those are some HUGE and HEALTHY peppers, and what more can you want?!

Year 3 Update: Now that the garden has been rebuilt and the panels aren’t bent it looks good again. It definitely took away from the look of the garden being built, but with the new shape and the tension rods in place it feels sturdy. In full transparency, we rebuilt it at the end of the season and have cabbage currently planted in it – so time will tell if the panels move again. But for now, it looks much better.

And just so you don’t have to scroll back up, if you decide you want to invest in a Sproutbox Garden you can save 10% with my code UGC10. I hope you found this review helpful and happy gardening!