Wow @Ina I. Wonder I am really impressed with your Doctor and your new gardening system. I hope you will continue to share pictures with us as things start growing and yielding food for you and Bobert. My Honey would probably love to have one of those things and as long as he was the one tending to it I would too but I don't think it would fit in our small home or budget. I hope you are feeling better too Ina.
http://www.aerogarden.com/aerogardens/miracle-gro-aerogarden-sprout-led-red.html I'm really tempted to buy this one for my Honey for Father's Day. It is affordable and small enough to not take up to much room in our small home. In fact after reading all about it, I think this one would end up being more for me as I am the one who can't spend alot of time outdoors anymore. And who also eats more fresh veggies than my Honey.
Thanks for sharing this tread @Yvonne Smith. This morning was the first time I read your posts about this kind of gardening and I must say once again you have shared your knowledge of something that has me very excited and eager to try my hand at this. I didn't think the equipment needed would be in our budget at this time but once I did a little research I found that there are a few that are definitely small enough and price wise will fit our budget just fine. We have plenty of room and sunshine for outdoor gardening but with just the two of us and our appetites that have decreased so much with aging....outdoor gardening no longer holds much interest for us except for my Honey's love of growing plants you don't eat. For the past few years our vegetable garden has come down to just a tomato and bell pepper plant grown in containers. I don't think either my Honey or I eat enough of anything to get the daily vitamins and nutrients we should as we just don't have the appetites for alot of food anymore. Thanks to your talking about smoothies I am doing much better at drinking those vitamins, etc. than I was trying to force myself to eat them Yvonne. I like the thought of just being able to snip off or pick some fresh lettuces and cherry tomatoes for a salad in just the right amount for us though. I'm guessing I could grow baby spinach too? You definitely have given me a subject of interest to me to do more research on. And a nice gift idea for my husband for Father's Day even though I think I will be using it more than him. Do you know if you can grow the cherry tomatoes and some lettuces together in this kind of gardening? Is there a certain kind of water you have to use in the gardening containers?
http://www.maryjanesgarden.com/growing/aerogarden I could not believe this article I found while doing some research on aerogardening! LOL
I have one of those small size Aerogardens, @Babs Hunt , and it is perfect for growing lettuce or herbs. For tomatoes, you wuld need one of the larger sized ones because the root system is gigantic. I try to trim mine down every so often so that they do not clog the impeller. Bobby had to fix it last year because the roots grew too long. I am interested in seeing what @Ina I. Wonder has to do to keep the roots cleared in her large hydroponic system. With mine, I can just take the lid off and clear the excess roots; but I can't tell how Ina cleans hers because it is long and tall. You can also get an adapter that starts about 15 pods, just for sprouting the seeds in the small Aerogarden . Right now, I have cherry tomatoes sprouting in mine, and herbs growing in the large aerogarden. Once the cherry toms are large enough to transplant, then I will start some lettuce in the small garden. I found my small one on eBay, and it was much cheaper than buying a new one.
Yes, after doing more research yesterday on aerogardening and the model I am thinking of buying I came to that conclusion too Yvonne...that it would probably be best for the lettuces and herbs. Since the weather over here stays pretty warm I could grow cherry tomatoes in a pot outside for quite a bit of the year...so that shouldn't be a problem. The expense of a bigger areogarden would be more of a problem for me right now. Plus I want to try this kind of gardening out first and see if it is something I will like doing long term before I invest a larger amount of money into it. Starting with fresh herbs will probably be what I start with in the small model. I had to do a little digging but I did find some good articles on aerogardening and one mentioned how the root systems grow so thick and clog up the machine. The person who wrote the article trims the roots and keep them at a level where they don't cause clogging problems. I saved the article with a few other ones so I will link it when I find it again. In doing the research many articles said something about the lighting being so bright for so many hours a day and also the noise of the water being pumped around. Do you find this a problem Yvonne. Our home is so small that if the light is going to fill the rooms even when we are trying to sleep...that might be a problem. And the noise might be a problem too. I sleep with a box fan running in our bedroom at night because that "noise" helps me sleep better. Can you tell me what kind of noise the aerogarden makes and is it constant, or off and on?
The noise is not a problem, @Babs Hunt , and I like hearing the sound of it. It is kind of like a softly bubbling stream. The lights are a different story, and they are bright, although the light system in the 3-pod aerogarden is not nearly as bright as the one in the large Aerogardens. However, you can set when you want the light to come on, so you could have it running during the day when you are not sleeping. We have ours in the back room where we can close the door at night; but you would definitely not want it somewhere that it can shine in your bedroom if it is going to be on at night. Robin has 3 of the large systems, and she grows herbs, lettuce, and even tomatoes in hers. When we took them out last fall, the roots system was gigantic; so I definitely recommend trimming the roots once every month or so.
Is the noise continual...or off and on? And did you find a noticeable difference in your electricity bill with the aerogarden?
Hi @Yvonne Smith , I asked the dr. about the roots too, and as we were assembling the tower, he showed me how the tower was made in segments, so it is easy to remove whichever segment that needs attention. It make it easy to move the different plants around according to their lightinging needs as well. That way if one plant starts to overshadow others, I can shift each segment of the tower up or down, and I can turn each segment to the left or right. @Babs Hunt , I set my garden up in the kitchen where it is close to water, (the reservoir is 20 gallons, so it ain't moving around much ), and I can always use more light in my kitchen. The timer is set to turn the lights on and off at 7:am and 7m. The water is set to come on every 15 minutes for a duration of 5 minutes. After you get over freaking out, because your brain yells FLOODING at first when you hear the running water, Yvonne is right, it does sound very pleasant.
I started some lettuce, basil, and cherry tomatoes in the the inert seedling starters, and the Tower Garden site also sells seedlings that are delivered by UPS. I ordered these this morning, and they will be shipped on Tuesday, to be delivered by Friday. This should give me a jump start, and cut my the time until my first harvest. It will give me time to start my own seedlings for future settings. My doctor, Carlos, said he has three towers set up in his townhouse, and four set up on his patio. The ones he has outside are just like the indoor ones, except that they do not need the lighting system. I admit the towers are expensive, but they do offer a payment plan of $45.00 a month. Since I rarely go anywhere, and I don't need much other than food, I feel that the cost is well spent. Plus, I realized I might as well spend my income on myself, instead of leaving it to people that haven't even checked on me in over two years. I love to garden, but now I'm not able to spend much time outside, so this is well worth the cost for me. I can even take care of this system from my wheelchair. If this works out I'll probably buy another.
Well I now have my settings placed into the Tower Garden. In a couple of days they should be much perkier. (Is perkier a word?). I'll take another picture in a couple of weeks to see how much they've grown. I left one pocket open so I can add a flowering plant, just for the prettiness of them. I want something that will boom often. Got any ideas?
I was sitting on my porch having my coffee this morning, and as usual I was watching the little purple flowers open as the sun came up. I guess I'm a bit difficult to buy things for, so generally others will bring me plants, mainly because they are always a winner for me. So when I would get a hanging basket plant they would usually be in full bloom. After the blooms were past their cycle, I would dig a shallow hole under the large shady oak right off my porch. This area has develope a large collection of ground coverage and the plants bloom almost year around. So I got the idea to dig up a small piece of the blooming ground coverage for my indoor tower garden. I have no idea whether or not it will survive the indoor conditions, but for me it's the fun of experimenting. I didn't think the planted would survive a season outside in the shade, but it's been there for many years now. So here a picture of it, Maybe it will grow, maybe not.
Well its been 10 days since I placed my settings, and I think I should be able to start clipping the outer leaves of the lettuce this coming week. I see some of the settings might need to be replaced with something else, although all of my seeds came from and were recommended by Tower Gardens.
[QUOTE="Ina I. Wonder, Well its been 10 days since I placed my settings, and I think I should be able to start clipping the outer leaves of the lettuce this coming week. I see some of the settings might need to be replaced with something else, although all of my seeds came from and were recommended by Tower Gardens.[/QUOTE] Very nice, @Ina I. Wonder ! Loved it!