Gardening with Amazon!

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Amazon recommends various items, based what you’ve previously bought or added to your wish list – which is fine and dandy. But some of the connections between what you bought / added and what they’re recommending seem totally unrelated. I’ve tried playing spot-the-connection and have had to give up on most of them.

I first noticed this a while ago [I wondered why they were recommending this stuff, and then saw, “Recommended because you purchased xxx”]. I started saving choice examples. [As this is a gardening site I’ll stick to just those, though the non-gardening ones are just as off the wall].

For instance …

Bought: 4-tier mini greenhouse …
Recommended:
… cake icing set
… coffee maker
… digital photo frame
… door chime kit
… essential oil
… George Foreman grill
… MP4 player

Bought: beach umbrella [cheaper than proper garden umbrella!]…
Recommended:
… baby teether ring
… baking tin
… cake stand
… child’s safety gate
… dinosaur stamp set
… dog nail clippers
… inflatable zimmer fame [“hilarious gag!”]
… Pampers “new baby” nappies
… satnav
… The Observations [Kindle novel]
… watch battery

Bought: bird nest-box …
Recommended:
… carpet protector
… cupcake earphones
… duvet
… electric kettle
… interior design computer disc
… Lego toy
… lighter fluid
… sleeping bag [for the birds???]
… shoelaces
… toy octopus
… Very Best of Billy Joel CD

Bought: butterfly garden nectar feeder …
Recommended:
… Hot book of chillies
… Kenwood blender
… men’s thermal long johns
… plant keyrings [real mini-plants on keyrings!]
… Red Sea coast travel guide
… silk cord chain necklace
… Sky balloons
… When kids kill (true crime series)

Bought: Container gardening through the year …
Recommended:
… A scattering (poetry)
… Allison Kraus CD [who?]
… Balance your hormones for a hot and healthy body
… Beatrix Potter complete stories
… Dead Men’s Footsteps [novel of “rural poor up to 1900” that still takes in 9/11]
… Making War Horse [film of the play]
… Midnight Fugue [crime fiction]
… Nuno felt [craft]
… Nurse Jackie season 1
… Painting with impact
… Power Yoga DVD
… Rosemary Conley workout book
… Sewing in no time

Bought: Creating a garden wildlife pond …
Recommended:
… Home brewing
… How to make and use compost [very handy for a garden pond!]

Bought: Directory of scented plants …
Recommended:
… How to start your own small business

Bought: Drought-resistant gardening …
Recommended:
… Flesh house [crime novel]
… I can make you sleep (Paul McKenna)
… Panasonic breadmaker
… Sacred hearts [historical fantasy]

Bought: Evergreen trees and shrubs …
Recommended:
… Wolf hall (Booker prize novel)

Bought: Gardener’s world …
Recommended:
… First family [novel]
… Happy mummy baby cubes food portioners (stage 2) — [WTF??]
… Shrek [DVD]
… There’s only one Jimmy Grimble [“football fantasy”]

Bought: Gardening without a garden …
Recommended:
… 50 easy party cakes

Bought: Green garden expert …
Recommended:
… 9 ct white gold pull-through earrings [?!!!]
… Weight training for dummies

Bought: mini greenhouse …
Recommended:
… earmuffs
… silver earrings

Bought: Patios and courtyards …
Recommended:
… Good food guide

Bought: plant pot, self-watering …
Recommended:
… Kindle screen protector [e-book reader]

Bought: plant seeds …
Recommended:
… electric blanket

Bought: plant stand, 3-tier …
Recommended:
… child sleeping bag
… Dark Matter [Kindle book]
… fondue chocolate
… men’s watershorts [new word for swimming trunks]
… ovulation testing kit [!!!]
… toy monkey
… Windows 7 upgrade

Bought: rubber snake [attempted squirrel-deterrent]…
Recommended:
… Australian hat with corks
… Mattress protector

Bought: Small gardens …
Recommended:
… 100 delicious juices and smoothies
… Real family food

Bought: The tiny garden …
Recommended:
… At home with white [home décor]
… Beach cottages: at home by the sea
… clothes-peg bag
… Japanese craft: embroidery
… Old house, new home [home makeover]

Bought: Velcro plant ties …
Recommended:
… bike repair manual
… cordless screwdriver
… door chime
… Dr Seuss book
… fridge/freezer thermometer
… Handmade cards
… “healthy joints” capsules
… iPod nano
… Kate Bush CD
… memory foam insoles
… PC cable
… Phantom Limb CD
… SD card [I bought an SD card file but they didn’t recommend this because of that!]
… USB mains charger
… wooden toy train

Bought: Water in a small garden …
Recommended:
… Annie Lennox Collection CD

Bought: What plant where …
Recommended:
… Jam, jelly and relish: how to make them
… Spirit level, the: why more equal societies almost always do better

Bought: wild bird feeder …
Recommended:
… adopt-a-Meerkat gift box
… Annie Lennox CD
… “bigtrak” toy car
… car steering wheel for computer games
… dog camera [to attach to dog’s collar, to get dog-eye-view of the world]
… bottle stopper
… eggcup + toast cutter
… “Eliza Dolittle” CD
… hand warmer
… Lego game “shave a sheep”
… maze game
… Need for Speed computer game
… Pickles, relishes and chutney
… slinky
… toy lion
… unisex clogs
… World’s weirdest animals

Bought: Wildlife gardening for everyone …
Recommended:
… Case for god, the – what religion really means
… Enchanter’s end game [fantasy]
… How to be idle – [glad they think wildlife gardening is so easy that this is a natural follow-on!]
… Quilled greetings cards
… Secret coves and beaches of Britain

If you have any Amazon recommendations as weird and wonderful as these, please share!

• 7 Aug, 2011
• 2 likes

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