The Aerogardens, I Love Mine!

Yeah, I'm not exactly a big-time gardener. Plus I've always lived in the south; when I was a kid everything we planted was seeds directly in the soil. Every small garden I've ever had as an adult was started from commercial nursery seedlings.

 

I'm still enjoying my Aerogardens. I have managed to purchase 4 of them in the past couple of months and that's all I care to deal with. I still get a thrill out of watching the plants grow. I'm thinking I'll plant some flowers in them when I get tired of veggies, though it is nice to have fresh herbs at my fingertips.

 

Here's the Aerogarden "farm" in my dining room. The Kratky jars with cherry tomato plants on the left under the lamps. They are beginning to bloom. Tomato seedlings for the garden in the second shelf and lettuce in the bottom...



The tomato seedlings are just about ready to transplant. There are four varieties.



And the parsley is doing well, too.

 

Love my aero garden. Right now I have a huge basil plant growing in it and some other herbs. I'm going to check out that sprout though. I have seedlings growing all over the dining room. Just glad my hubs is into gardening also. Lol

 

I'm having a lettuce moment.




Our two daughters were here this weekend and they both left with an Aerogarden. So now I'm down to three again. Kind of a relief, actually.

 

The Aerogarden website has been having a 50% off sale on their seed pods, so I ordered some herbs, romaine lettuces, and a couple of "grow anything" kits that you add your own seeds to. Today I "planted" 6 bok choi pods so I'm curious to see how those do. I also have a fairytale eggplant that I want to start but I need to clean out one of the machines.

 

I was reading on the Aerogarden forum that a lot of people don't like the "tender" consistency of Aerogarden lettuce. Here's a tip from AG support:

“Toughen-up” your lettuce. Lettuce grown indoors is surprisingly tender. Many people love this. Some people miss that extra crunch. The lettuce is tender because it is grown in the “spa-like” conditions of an indoor garden, with no sun, wind or bugs to toughen it up. An easy way to put more bite in your lettuce is to aim a small fan at the lettuce while it is growing. The constant movement on the plants requires them to create tougher leaves to stand up to the wind. Many people find this helps create the texture they are looking for.

 

The bok choy is doing great; we had stir fry with the first harvest of leaves last week and I need to trim them back again.

This little bamboo storage drawer thing was on sale on Amazon and I had rewards $$ so I got it for free. It looks cute on the bamboo shelf unit and holds a lot of supplies. (Pictured with the bok choy plants!)

 

Yum!

 

The Fairytale Eggplant is doing very well. It got so large I had to move it to a Kratky jar since it was crowding out the herbs. As soon as I assemble my new raised garden I'll be transplanting the eggplant outside. (Looks almost like a small fig tree, but the leaves are smooth and not fuzzy.)

I finally ordered a fan from Amazon and it's coming today. I can't believe I purchased a fan for my lettuce. Who am I?

 

Since it's hotter than Hades in TX, my poor little raised-bed garden is looking sad and winding down in the backyard. Of course this has me thinking of starting up the Aerogardens again since currently all are out-of-service except one that is growing kale. (Not sure why; I really don't like kale but I thought I might if I grew it myself. Nope.)

As I posted in the "What did you buy lately" thread I picked up an Aerogarden Bounty Elite from the website Father's Day sale. I'm weak. Now beginning to plot what I want to plant when it gets here.

I've been following this guy's youtube channel. He is an excellent resource and gets to the point without a lot of blather. I find this video on Tiny Tim tomatoes quite amazing... (11 minutes)



He has videos on all the Aerogarden models, stuff he has grown, cleaning and maintaining the units, etc. I can spend literally hours watching his vids. If you have any interest and time to kill, I highly recommend his channel.

 

I was not fond of kale but it was the best looking vegetable approaching frost last year. I lopped the tops off of many plants and stuck them in buckets of water in my back hall--kind of a cool room. After forgetting them for a couple of weeks in the cold, I cooked one up and it was quite good. Much milder than fresh and yet still fresh. I also blanch and freeze them to cook, lightly, later, with butter.
Of course, I eat a lot of weird wild foods so ...

 

I like the Chick-fil-a kale side salad and I found this copycat recipe... (1 min. video)




Salad

• 2-3 stalks kale to make 1 heaping cup chopped, massaged kale
• ½ cup chopped broccoli cut into bite sized pieces
• 1-2 Tablespoons dried cherries
• 1-2 Tablespoons chopped salted cashews

Dressing

• ½ teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon Maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Just thought I'd post this in case anyone has any interest in the "Farm" Aerogarden models. These are the largest hydroponic systems sold by AG and have the pricetags to match. The good news is, right now they are having a KILLER sale on these units, and I'm considering buying one. My only hesitation is wondering how difficult they are to maintain. Anyway, if you have considered a Farm model Aerogarden, now's the time. https://aerogarden.com/gardens/farm-family/

This is the largest one...