A couple of more Garden Gadgets here

We’re now at the beginning of my fifth month. The lettuces were wonderful and delicious, but the plants reached the end of their life cycle and started bolting (i.e. going to seed), so I cleared out that garden (Gave it a wash inside and out, cleared out the roots from the pump and ran the cup of bleach through the system, per the instructions.) and replanted with green beans.

The herbs after five months have grown like crazy (yes, the basil’s on steroids), and five of the plants show no signs of stopping (chives quit outright, and the cilantro’s looking iffy), so I’m keeping them going with 1/2 teaspoon of Miracle Grow in the water every two weeks now that I’m out of the original fertilizer tabs. (I’ll be on vacation in June, so my plan is to see if I can keep the parsley, basil and mint going until then, and then clean out and put both garden’s on hold while I’m out of town. That should be right at the end of the green bean’s cycle, too.)

About regrowth after “big harvests” — the rule of (green) thumb is to not harvest more than a third of the plants at a time. I suspect after about two months, when they’re well established, you could probably harvest about half and not have any problems. A bigger “problem” is what to do with all the extras — fortunately, I like working with dried herbs, so I’m drying the surpluses. Note of warning: basil on sandwiches is addictive! Harvesting/pinching back/pruning is defintely good for keeping them bushy and out of the lights, so more “harvesting” is probably better than too little in the long run.

A note about the green beans — since these things do grow like gangbusters, I’m trying an experiment of growing four pods in the regular 7-pod garden instead of seven, and using half the fertilizer (i.e. one tab instead of two.) I’m in the fifrth day, and three of the four pods are already 2-inches high (fourth one’s having issues, but there are signs of sprouting, so I suspect it’s OK.)

Still using the same bulbs from five months back — they’ve not dimmed that I’ve noticed. I did have to request two replacement floats for the water level indicators. Apparently there was one batch that had bad glue on the floats. Customer service sent them out for free, and installation was no big deal.

Yes, it’s still love. I may be buried with these things…

To Kell Brigan:
Your review was most helpful. 20usd/month for 6 servings of salad plus 6 dishes using fresh herbs would save me at least 10 bucks, when you consider the driving expense plus taxes for the last minute run to the store.

Thanks!

Thank you!

The AeroGarden runs the solution over the roots instead, but the roots are suspended in the air/water so it still grows plants faster than bioponics and hydroponics. It’s almost “set it and forget it”, the only thing you do is add some nutrient tablets and refill the reservoir every couple of weeks or when your plants have consumed it all. If you were growing these in soil, you’d have to at least double the amount of water.

If you think the seed packs are expensive — you don’t have to use theirs, you can make your own seed pods and buy your own nutrient solutions for a lot less, although this can be too technical for some people. This is not recommended by AeroGrow but is still possible and can save you a few bucks.

It’s a great gift for anyone and can be educational, not everyone knows that plants don’t require soil. They have peppers, cherry tomatoes, salad greens, strawberries, and a big variety of herbs.

Cheers

THE AREO GARDEN IS AFFORDABLE WHEN YOU CAN NOT HAVE A REAL GARDEN, & IVE SPENT MORE

ON HERBS ATGROCERY STORES THAT ROTT AWAY IN A WEEKS TIME.

THIS INVENTION IS INGENIOUS, AND JUST PLAIN THRILLING TO HAVE RIGHT IN THE KITCHEN,
ALWAYS FRAGRANT, ALWAYS GROWING & BEAUTIFUL, WOW!!!