Archive for the ‘AeroGarden’ Category

The AeroG­arden is an indoor, compact, self-contained hydro­ponic gardening system. They come in a variety of sizes and colors with prices starting at only $49, including free shipping. They call it a “kitchen garden” because it can easily fit on most people’s kitchen counter tops or any small space, allowing you to grow fresh vegetables, herbs, or flowers all year long.

Ever since we first saw this product adver­tised, Sandy and I have wanted one. We finally took the plunge when Sandy saw a good sale price on one of their models. If you’re inter­ested in this product, visit their site every week to shop for sales. AeroG­arden looks for any excuse to run a sale. (Don’t forget to jump there each time from your favorite ministry’s shopping page on ShopOnline2Give.)

The sale that Sandy found was so good that she bought two units, both of them the AeroG­arden Space­Saver 6 model, in an appro­pri­ately space-age silver color. Both came with a Gourmet Herbs seed pod set (a combi­nation of basil, thyme, oregano, dill, mint and chives). She also wanted to grow salad greens, so she ordered one of those seed pod sets separately.

Assembly and planting of our new AeroG­a­rdens was a snap. The whole process took just a few minutes. Then the waiting began…

Fortu­nately, we didn’t have to wait long. Within just a couple of days the salad greens started to sprout. We were advised in the planting kit that the herbs are slower growing and would take longer, and we’ve found that to be true. It’s been a real hoot for us to check our gardens every day to see how much they’ve grown. The salad greens literally doubled in size every day for several days in a row!

Mainte­nance is a piece of cake. The units we bought have sensors that tell us when to add nutrients and water, but even if you buy models that don’t feature this, all you do is remember to add nutrients every two weeks and water as needed. The nutrients are provided with your kit, either as tablets or packets of liquid.

Yesterday, less than four weeks from planting day, we enjoyed our first harvest of salad greens. Instruc­tions advise never harvesting more than one-third of the growth at a time. Our first harvest provided enough lettuce for a huge dinner salad for both of us. Today we’re having spaghetti for lunch, seasoned with fresh basil from our herb garden. (See our photo below.)

Like I said earlier, AeroG­a­rdens come in a wide variety of sizes and config­u­ra­tions, ranging from 3-pod models to extra-tall 7-pod units. They offer lots of seed pods for each type of unit allowing you to grow many different types of herbs; vegetables such as cherry or heirloom tomatoes, green beans, different kinds of peppers; and several kinds of flowers. They even have a pod set for growing your own tea plants! What’s more, they have kits for using your AeroG­arden to start seedlings for trans­planting to your outdoor garden.

We’ve been thrilled with our AeroG­a­rdens. They are ideal for apartment dwellers, families with kids, classroom projects or home schoolers, shut-ins, dorm rooms, or anyone who’s become convinced that they don’t have a green thumb but want some home grown freshness in their diet. Growing some of your own food is fun and is a great idea. AeroG­arden makes it fool-proof. Highly recommended.