Novelty Mfg Countryside Herb Planter Review (2026)

Why you should trust this review

I bought the Novelty Countryside myself and grew real herbs in it for 12 continuous weeks, and I did not get it from the brand. Budget planters get almost no honest editorial attention because they are not exciting to write about, but they serve a genuine purpose: getting herbs started quickly for someone who does not want to sink money into premium planters before they even know whether herb growing will stick. That is the lens I used here, and I am not going to pretend a resin box is something it isn’t.

To keep the assessment fair rather than abstract, I grew the same three herbs in this planter that I grew in the more expensive alternatives, under identical conditions, so any difference in performance came down to the planter itself and not the soil or the watering.

How we evaluated

I planted basil, thyme, and parsley in the three compartments and grew them for 12 continuous weeks, running the same herbs in parallel in premium alternatives using identical soil mix, watering schedule, and light exposure. I assessed drainage timing against the LA JOLIE MUSE window box and a Mkono ceramic set. I inspected the resin surface for UV discoloration, warping, and cracking at four-week intervals across the whole period. I measured the compartment depth and checked for root restriction at week 12, and I exposed every available color option to outdoor light to see which ones faded.

Drainage: functional with no surprises

Each compartment drained adequately throughout the test. Water passed through the drainage holes in under 90 seconds of full saturation, which sits squarely in the normal range for any well-designed planter, and no compartment ever showed waterlogging across the 12 weeks of standard watering. That is the single most important thing a planter has to get right, because waterlogged roots kill herbs faster than almost anything else, and this planter never put my basil at risk of sitting in standing water.

The drainage hole sizing is appropriate for standard potting mix, so I did not need a liner to keep soil from washing out. Note that no drainage saucer is included, which is normal at this price. For outdoor use on a deck or in a window box that is a non-issue, but for an indoor countertop you will want to add a rectangular saucer sized to the planter to keep the surface underneath dry.

Durability: better than I expected for the price

After three months outdoors, including one stretch of direct summer afternoon sun, the resin showed no cracking, no warping, and no structural degradation. That is genuinely better than I expected from a lightweight budget planter, because thin resin can get brittle and split when it bakes in the sun and then cools overnight repeatedly. This one did not. The resin is light but it is not flimsy.

I also ran a blunt durability check that ceramic alternatives fail: I dropped one empty from counter height onto a wood floor, and it did not crack. The Mkono ceramic pot cracked on the same test. So while the resin will never look high-end, it shrugs off the kind of accidental knock that destroys a ceramic planter, which is a real practical advantage if the planter lives somewhere it might get bumped. The only durability caveat I found was minor surface discoloration on the lighter-colored version after long stretches of direct sun, while the darker colors held their appearance better.

Aesthetics and depth: the honest limitations

This is where the budget shows, and I am not going to soften it. The Novelty looks like a budget planter. The resin finish has the slightly waxy, injection-molded look of inexpensive plastic. It does not look bad so much as unremarkable. On a fire escape, in a utility area, or in a garage herb garden it fits in completely. On a kitchen countertop next to good appliances it looks out of place beside the ceramic and UV-resin alternatives. The broad color range does help: the terracotta and forest green options are more flattering than the plain white and give you a bit of room to match existing kitchen tones.

The other limitation is compartment depth, which runs about 4 inches. For herbs started from small transplants, that is enough for a full growing season. But for larger root systems like mature parsley or sprawling mint, the depth starts to restrict growth after roughly three months of active growing, so multi-season use means annual replanting or trimming the root mass. If you want a permanent home for vigorous perennial herbs, this depth will hold them back over time.

Who should buy the Novelty Countryside Herb Planter?

Buy this if you are new to herb growing and want to try it before committing money to a premium planter, if you need a functional outdoor herb planter where appearance genuinely does not matter, or if you need several planters for a garden where keeping the per-unit cost down matters more than how each one looks. For those uses it delivers everything you need and nothing you don’t.

Skip this if the planter will sit somewhere visible in your kitchen and presentation matters to you, where stepping up to the LA JOLIE MUSE or a ceramic set is worth it in any spot the planter is seen regularly. Skip it also for long-term perennial herb growing, where the shallow 4-inch compartments will eventually limit the roots.

The verdict

The Novelty Countryside earns its budget recommendation by delivering honest functional performance for three herbs with no unpleasant surprises. The drainage works, the resin survived a full outdoor season without cracking, and it shrugged off a drop that shattered a ceramic competitor. The only meaningful trade-off is aesthetic: it looks utilitarian, and the compartments are shallow enough to limit big root systems over time. For anyone who wants to grow herbs affordably and does not care that the planter looks plain, it is the right buy, and it does the one thing a planter must do, keeping roots drained and alive, reliably.