I think it would be easy for a young (and flexible) person to maintain. I just do better with things at countertop height; trying to trim and maintain those plants on the bottom would be a challenge for my knees. A guy on the Aerogarden forum made a "DIY" version of a Farm and I'm going to copy his setup. He bought this bamboo clothes rack thing from Amazon for $48, then suspended an Aerogarden grow light from the crossbar where the clothes are hung... Then he removed the light off the base of a countertop model and planted his peppers in it. It looks like this... As the peppers grow, he can raise the light panel similar to the Farm models. Since I already have an LED light panel, all I'll have to do is get my hubby to help me suspend it on the crossbar. Plus this bamboo setup will match my existing shelf unit (and will only cost me $48).
I got the bamboo clothes rack thing and it's assembled; now waiting on a pulley system thing from Amazon to suspend the grow light. I spent most of yesterday and earlier today rearranging stuff in the dining room; took down the curtains in there and installed a valance to let more light into the room. Started up three of the AGs. I moved one back to the kitchen and started salad greens. I also started dwarf cherry tomatoes and assorted herbs.
I'm still working on getting stuff sorted and arranged with all the Aerogarden "clutter," but here's the new addition. This will allow me to grow a much larger plant using the Aerogarden system... I have some Iznik cucumber seeds that Aerogardeners report good results from, so my first planting in this setup is going to be cucumbers.
For anyone who might be interested, the Aerogarden website is still having great sales on garden systems and seed pods. They now have banana peppers, large cherry tomatoes, and cucumber pods in stock (along with all the other greens and stuff) and on sale for half price. I don't know what variety of cucumbers they are but the picture appears to be a type of pickling cukes. The description is vague but says that they must be pollinated to produce. I wish they had selected a parthenocarpic type (self-pollinator) but they didn't ask me. Oh, and Fedex just dropped off my newest Aerogarden; I picked up a Harvest XL model that comes with a trellis. I think I'm done for now since I'm back to 5 AGs and the Spider Farmer.
Well, I lied. I like the Harvest XL very much; it's probably my favorite model... so I bought another one while they are on sale. It will be here on Thursday. I finally got the dining room arranged to suit me and the gardens where I want them. I have 6 new "plantings"... some cascading petunias, Iznik cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, bok choy, lettuce, and Italian parsley/cilantro. I have a spot ready for the new one on Thursday; I'll be planting a couple of "Kitchen Minis Siam" tomatoes in there. Then I'll be in maintenance mode! I think that's enough for me to deal with. I'll be trying the small fan for my lettuce. I read AG's suggestion to use a fan to "toughen" lettuce leaves and make them a bit crunchier. I'm skeptical but I'll give it a whirl (so to speak.)
They are a fun hobby. I just love watching seeds grow into plants, especially in the air-conditioning.
I was surveying "the farm" earlier and I have a lot of new sprouts. Lettuce, tomato, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers , and petunias so far. I'm excited to see how the cucumber will do; it's planted in a Bounty that has 2 trellis extensions so I'll be trimming the vine and trying to train it to "circle" the small trellis. I have watched a couple of youtube videos of growing vine plants in the AGs and there are varied levels of success.
Yesterday I added a Harvest Slim Elite model to the lineup , so now I have 8 gardens and that's IT. I started some fajita peppers (look like bell peppers but supposed to have some heat) and some sweet banana peppers. I need to thin the tomato seedlings so I'm going to start a couple of Kratky jars with the "culled" plants. I hate to waste a little seedling.
Amazon Prime Day has several deals on different Aerogarden models. The most popular model, the Harvest, is only $49 today. CLICK! Regular price is $120 so this is a very good deal if you want to try out an AG.
So here's the "back 40" in the dining room. Eight gardens in there and one in the kitchen with lettuce. I have some banana peppers sprouting and I'm chuffed about those. Lettuce... And 2 Iznik cucumber plants. I need to cull one of them but I can't make myself do it.
Well, things have gotten a little out of hand with this Aerogardening thing. I believe I have either 21 or 22 gardens now and my dining room looks like this... I'm amazed at the stuff I can grow. Last week I harvested about 20 cucumbers and a ton of peppers. I had enough to make a quart of refrigerator pickles and 2 jars of pickled banana peppers. I also have green onions, a couple of types of lettuce, four varieties of tomatoes, some petunias and various herbs (dill, sage, parsley, etc.). I'm going to be terminating some of them so that we can travel to see my sister in the next month or so.
Wife just restarted hers too, but she only has one small one and I don't think it has even germinated yet. How do you grow cucumbers in an Aerogarden? Do you have a trellis or something?