Carefree Gardener, Inc. was organized for the manufacture, distribution and retail sales of a garden device designed to eliminate weeds, and provide water to garden areas.
The Watering Weedless Wonder TM was developed over 5 years of trial and error. The goal was to prevent weeds in the vegetable garden and eliminate the time consuming task of conventional watering, conserve water and keep root zones consistantly moist. This weed barrier mat has soaker hose permanently attached to the underside and the hose runs beside each pre-cut row or hole to deliver water directly to the plants. Minimal openings for rows and holes further prevents weeds from emerging. With no weed competition and consistant moisture available the production from a small area is greatly inceased.
A row of 3 Row models, hooked together
and all watered at the same time. Another
week or so and the beans will cover the
mat and be ready to pick.
(Weeds to the right are history.)
For more pictures of the 4 models of the Watering Weedless Wonder TM see "Our Products" and other areas of this website.
Want to know more?? Read on!!
History of Gardening Device: James M. Milliken grew up in Eastern Kansas where his parents were “gardeners”, as were his grandparents on both sides of his family. He has always had a love for gardens, even before participating in the 4-H garden project for several years. He has 
enjoyed a large garden in St. Francis, Kansas for nearly 20 years, but was always frustrated by weeds and inadequate watering systems. He loved tilling the soil, planting and harvesting but dreaded hoeing and pulling weeds.
After many years of frustration, it occurred to him that covering the soil served two (2) purposes. First, it prevented weeds from growing and secondly, it preserved moisture. After determining he should follow through with these theories, he decided to utilize large cardboard boxes (mostlyrefrigerator boxes) for testing. The boxes were first cut into flat sheets. Two (2) rows were then cut in the flat sheets of cardboard. These were called “planting slots”. Each row was comprised of a series of planting slots, having from one (1) to two (2) inches of cardboard between the planting slots to keep the cardboard from “spreading” where the seeds were to be planted. A soaker hose was then placed in the center of where the rows were to be planted, the cardboard was then placed over the soaker hose with a row on each side of the soaker hose, various kinds of vegetables were planted in the planting slots and the water was applied through the soaker hose. Living in Northwest Kansas where the wind does blow, he quickly experienced picking up
the pieces of cardboard, sometimes a considerable distance from his garden. Some system would be necessary to hold the cardboard on the ground. A shovel and some dirt on the edges of the cardboard solved the problem. The test was not beautiful to the eye (words such as Frigidaire often appeared) but it did work. Weeds did not grow through the cardboard, the soaker hose watered both rows, and the vegetables grew very well. After an initial weeding in the planting slots (about 2" wide), the vegetables shaded out new weed growth. Watering and harvesting completed the project. The cardboard had partially decomposed but after a few trips over it with a rota-tiller, it finally decomposed.
Instead of having one 50' row of cardboard the project expanded to three (3) 50' rows of cardboard. Instead of planting only radishes, lettuce, spinach and green beans, the project also included kohlrabi, peas, carrots and beets. One (1) 50' row of cardboard was also partially used for potatoes. All worked well except for harvesting the potatoes. It was next to impossible to dig the potatoes through the cardboard. Small amounts of non-woven weed barrier were also tried, mostly unsuccessfully as the UV resistance was not high enough to last through the entire summer.
More determined than ever, another spring brought about the use of an additional weed barrier 
to be used in place of cardboard. Scissors were used to cut the planting slots, and a few holes, approximately four inches (4") in diameter, were cut and some peppers and broccoli were plated in these holes. The usual learning curve had begun. How to hold the weed barrier when the wind blew. It either tore off the staples used to hold it in place or pulled the staples out of the ground. Again, weed control was good and watering much more uniform and it appeared to take less water to get the same results.
Another spring arrived and it was time to do some real testing with weed barrier products. Samples of both woven and non-woven products were obtained from several different companies. UV ratings were compared, raveling characteristics were compared as were puncture strengths, etc. While small samples of several products were used, a non-woven product was selected for over 1500 feet of the approximate 1800 feet of rows to be tested. All went well until mid-August when it was noticed that portions of the weed barrier seemed to be deteriorating. A call to the Distribution Company revealed that the product was only in its second year and it’s five-year guarantee was “if it was covered”. The Company did not 
recommend its use in direct sunlight but was surprised it had not held up for at least two or three years. For five years or longer they recommended a woven product. Because all of the woven products tested would unravel when cut, much searching occurred for a non-woven product that could be cold-cut to prevent raveling. Finally, being convinced by having talked to more than 25 manufactures, distributors and retailers of weed barrier products that there was not a non-woven product which would last for five years or longer when exposed to direct sunlight, it was determined that a woven product would have to be used. This meant that it would have to be “heat-cut” to prevent raveling where cut. Nearly all weed barrier is made from polypropylene. One of the characteristics of polypropylene is its relatively low melting point. When “heat-cut” it melts the strands of woven material together and raveling is prevented.
Patent, Trademark and Manufacturing: By late Spring of 2002, Jim had determined that a device such as he was using did not exist on the commercial level. He had talked to a patent attorney in Kansas City who had prepared a patent-ability opinion based on the drawings and proto-types Jim had sent to him. Jim had also discussed the manufacture of the device with Gordon Ross, who agreed with Jim, that if Jim would handle sales, he would handle 
production. Gordon is now in charge of Enginerring, Jim is in charge of Design and Development, and a Sales Manager and Production Manager have been hired. The patent application has the status of “Patent Pending” and is an international application. The trademark application for “Carefree Gardener” has the status of “Trademark Pending” and is an international application. The trademark application for “Watering Weedless Wonder” has the status of “Trademark Pending” and is an international application. Action granting or not granting the applications may take three years or more. Operations have been commenced under the “Pending” status.
Current Plan of Production: One of the first decisions to make with reference to the production of the product was whether to standardize the product or to custom build it to fit the various size garden of different customers. From discussing the product with various individuals who we thought would be likely customers, it appears there is a large demand for custom built products. After numerous long conferences on this topic it was determined that standard size products should initially be built and that they should all be a standard size but be able to be connected so that if a particular customer wanted a larger garden the customer could hook them together, either side to side or end to end. This will ease the production phase of the project and still provide some diversity to the customer. Custom building of the product has not been forgotten and we plan to add custom sizes, within limits set by us, to our list of products. The limitations will be to permit the customer to select the design of the product, of 
which there will be several, and then select different lengths, in approximately 26" increments. The final decision we have made is to initially build several different designs, some of which will have 12 “planting holes” for eggplant, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, etc. and some which will have rows of “planting slots”. Each row will have 3 planting slots, each 12" long and 2" wide. This will make from 9' to 15' of planting rows within each unit. The completed size of each of the units will be 44" wide and 58" long. Thus, in one unit there could be planted 12 different plants in the 12 planting holes. It is intended that these 12 plants would be plants which require some room to grow, and up to 15' of row crop type vegetables, such as radishes, lettuce, onions, carrots, beets, etc. in the other unit. This should be very adequate to supply numerous meals of fresh vegetables to an average family. End to end, these two products would only take a space 3' 8" wide and 9' 7" long.
Targeted Market: The name Carefree Gardener is closely tied to convenience. With many two wage earners per family, this leaves little time for recreational activities. Combine this thought with a statement from Larry DeWitt, CEO and owner of DeWitt Company, from whom we are purchasing our weed barrier for the product. As I was explaining the functions and purposes of the product and what could be produced in it with such little effort, he stated: “Everyone likes a garden, but only the dedicated like gardening.” If you can take the “ing”out of gardening, leaving only garden you will have a product to fit the convenience demanded by today’s society.” No one likes to hoe or pull weeds, make certain the garden is watered, etc. Therefore, the targeted market is the urban family who has a small space in their back yard where they could have a small garden to produce fresh vegetables, but without the hot, laborious work generally associated with “gardening.” Because the product will also work equally well for growing flowers, it can serve the double duty of providing fresh vegetables and a pretty setting.
Potential customers with larger gardens have not been forgotten. The units will fit togehter, side by side or end to end. Custom-built sizes will also allow the "Carefree Gardener" custom design his or her garden.
With the development of sales and distribution of the product it is contemplated that additional marketing efforts will be in the area of building custom sizes, and looking at the possibility of expanding into the truck garden and nursery businesses as well as to select some particular fruit or vegetable and concentrate on those who grow that item. Strawberries seem ideal as the product would eliminate weeds, keep the berries cleaner, provide the opportunity of fertilizing through the watering system, and keep the berries and plants dry above ground, thus eliminating some of the fungus molds which plague some strawberry production.
Marketing Plan: In the early spring of 2003 Gordon and Jim decided that to keep the project moving forward it was necessary that they meet on a daily basis. These meetings are at Jim’s house at 8:00 AM. and usually last 30 to 45 minutes. Rarely has a day been missed and rarely has there been a meeting in which the marketing plan has not been discussed. The primary issue has been whether to utilize a marketing firm who would then involve wholesalers, distributors and perhaps retailers, or whether to try to market the product without involving all of these classifications of individuals and entities, each of who would have to take a part of the ultimate sale proceeds. It was ultimately decided, after talking to several advisory services and potential marketing firms, to eliminate the marketing firms, the wholesalers, distributors and retailers. This decision was based primarily on attempting to retain some control over production and profits, and to be able to market the product at a reasonable price.
At this time, we have engaged Golden Belt Printing, Inc. of Great Bend, Kansas to prepare our advertising materials, logo design for Carefree Gardener, Inc., product design for Watering Weedless Wonder, labels for the product, brochures for handout, direct mail, information request responses, and for the preparation of stationery, letterhead, envelopes, business cards and 
shipping labels. Roy Myers is the president and owner of the company. Their commercial artist is Butch Muhleisen. Gordon and Jim made a trip to Great Bend and met with them prior to engaging their services. On July 16, 2003 Jim gave them the “go-ahead” to proceed with the anticipated services. Since we are contemplating some direct marketing the following items have been considered as marketing tools:
Internet sales through web site
Trade shows
Lawn & garden shows
Media advertising
Retailers
Wholesalers
Distributors
Infomercials
Direct mail
Testimonials
Power point presentation, Video or DVD (with time-lapse sequence) both for web site and for show booth.
Finally, it was determined that if we were unable to generate enough sales through direct sales we could always engage marketing experts for assistance in marketing. Time will tell if our product will “sell itself” as many have said it would, if exposed to enough people.
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