the aerogarden blog
Follow along as I experiment with all kinds of Aerogardens.
Well, that didn't take long. After only two days, we have two little seedlings popping their little heads out.
Posted on 12 August 2010 | 9:07 pm
The first step to getting ready to start the herb garden again was to get replacement parts for my old Aerogarden Classic.
The thing I needed the most was a new set of Aerogarden arms. Here's what the contacts on the old arms looked like:
The metal contacts were corroded to the point where they weren't conducting electricity anymore. In retrospect, they say that such corrosion can be cleaned by using a Q-Tip with vinegar, but I figured the corrosion was so widespread I may as well order a replacement arm. Here's what that looked like.
The other replacement part I'd ordered were more filter pads for the old style Aerogarden pump.
I'd gone onto the Aerogarden Store a few months ago and created a custom herb seed kit consisting of all the herbs I find most useful in cooking. They were: Basil, Sage, Parsley, Thyme, Cilantro. I also had Mint and Chives left over from my herb seed kit, so I figured I'd throw those in too.
I brought out all the parts from where I was storing them and laid them out.
The pump was the
replacement Aerogarden pump I ordered last year, so it was still in great working order. I just installed a new filter pad.
Installing the new arm was a snap (literally). Just remove the old arm, insert the new, and plug the power cord in. Extremely simple.
By now, I'm getting real good at planting the Aerogarden seed pods. I arranged all seven of them into the unit.
Then, I poured water into the basin to the fill line, added the starting nutrient tablets, put the dome covers on top of the pods.
And then the big moment came where I plugged the unit in again for the first time in months.
Have you ever seen one of those movies where they come across a long-abandoned shipwrecked boat and then they start up the engines again for the first time? This is the feeling I had when this old Aerogarden started up again. The water started trickling just like old times.
And so, in under 4 minutes, I had my herb garden planted. Then it was on to the tomatoes.
The seed kit from Bed Bath and Beyond looked like the seeds were prepared almost two years ago (which explains why they were on clearance). It'll be interesting to see if they grow.
It came with nutrient tablets, three seed pods (two red tomatoes and one yellow), and pods for spacing.
I plopped in all the pods, and put the dome covers on top. I left the old trellises in place, hoping that some day I will be able to support the three cherry tomato plants.
And there you have it. We're starting anew with cherry tomatoes and a bunch of new herbs. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we watch the seeds grow and yield a harvest.
If you have any suggestions for what I can cook using the herbs I listed above, please leave them in the comments section!
Posted on 8 August 2010 | 10:39 pm
Seems that "reboots" are all the rage these days. Hollywood's brought back everyone from Batman to Captain Kirk. This fall, you'll be able to see Danno book 'em again on Hawaii Five-O, and Jim Rockford open up his files again. There's even chatter about a "CHiPs" reboot. What I wouldn't give to see a tubby Ponch and a gumpy old Jon climbing upon their Kawasakis again. Of course, Erik Estrada seems busy hocking real estate on informercials, and Larry Wilcox is the CEO of a mining company. but one can dream, can't one?
Anyway, for those of you who've grown tired of seeing that ladybug on the blog since March 21, get ready for a whole new indoor garden blog. I'll be starting over with a brand new herb garden and a brand new tomato garden.
By the way, if you're wondering what happened to the tomatoes, here's what the VeggiePro looked like on June 6.
At its peak I'd been getting a few small tomatoes every week, but the yield was getting smaller and smaller, and I was out of nutrient tablets. The plant was getting a bit unwieldy, and the water in the basin was getting a little nasty. So I figured it'd be a good time to retire this crop.
Step one was detaching the trellisses that were keeping the plants up. Here's what it looked like.
Needless to say, trellises are a must-have when growing any kind of veggies in your Aerogarden.
Step two was removing the one remaining seed pod.
The stalks were thick and the roots were impressive as always. I suppose if I had an outside garden, I could have transplanted it outside and have seen the plant grow to its full potential--even though Aerogrow said these would be "full size tomatoes", they never quite got bigger than very large cherry tomatoes, probably due to never having quite the amount of space and nutrients that outdoor plants have. So my dream of reliving my glory teenage years of harvesting gigantic
"Burpee Big Boy Tomatoes"
will have to wait until I buy a house with a yard, I guess.
And so how would I summarize my tomato experience? I'd say good and bad. I ended up being able to harvest some fresh tomatoes indoors, but certainly not full-size nor extreme amounts. Still, it was convenient being able to reach for the VeggiePro when I needed a fresh tomato for a salad or sandwich and didn't want to have to go to the supermarket to get one.
The next step was using warm water and dish soap to clean the unit inside and out. There was a lot of white residue from the nutrient tablets to scrub off, but after a few minutes of washing, the unit looked just like new again. And so the VeggiePro was ready again to take on a new crop. But I ended up going on various business trips in July, so I figured I'd plant the new crop when I return.
I figured I'd plant herbs in the VeggiePro this time and just let them grow really, really tall. But yesterday at my local Bed Bath and Beyond, I noticed they were selling some aging cherry tomato kits on clearance. And so, I decided to give tomatoes a second go, but this time going with the cherry tomatoes instead of the Ruby Heirloom tomatoes.
And so, strap on your seatbelts. We're going to start indoor gardening again, planting cherry tomatoes in the VeggiePro (which I notice Aerogarden's marketing department, which can't ever seem to settle on a name for their extra-tall Aerogardens, has renamed the "Aerogarden Extra"), and setting up one of my old 7-pod Aerogarden Classics to once again grow herbs.
Posted on 8 August 2010 | 3:37 pm
If you want to introduce a child to the world of gardening, this AeroGarden 3 in the shape of a ladybug is 
a nice way to start. It comes with either an herb kit or (as pictured), a beautiful flower garden.
It makes a great birthday present, and a great way to teach kids about how gardening works if you don't happen to have a yard, and the importance of responsibly maintaining the nutrient tablets and water on a schedule. Plus, if you buy the herb kit, it's a great way to get them to grow you fresh herbs for free :)
I got an email today from Aerogarden saying that this is by far their best selling Aerogarden, and they have a hard time keeping it in stock, so hurry and get yours while you can!
Posted on 21 March 2010 | 12:27 pm
Well, what a difference a few weeks make. Last week and this week I enjoyed several harvests of tomatoes. Here's what they looked like on the vine:
I nervously cut into the tomato, hoping not to see any dark spots. Happily, they looked great!
Three weeks ago I harvested a bunch, which I ended up putting in a salad:
Two weeks ago...
...I sliced them up and put on a Nutrisystem pizza:
Just a few minutes ago, I picked three, which I tossed in Italian dressing and ate as a snack:
So, it looks like the tomatoes are back. The single remaining vine is huge and stronger than ever, with at least 5-10 flowers on it.
Unfortunately, this is the week I'm running out of the tomato nutrients. I have some leftover nutrients which I saved from the failed Aerogarden snowpeas from last year. I suppose I'll keep the plant alive with those (hoping they have enough of the nutrients the tomatoes need), and then start to think about retiring them.
Posted on 19 March 2010 | 9:28 am
I've been harvesting tomatoes pretty regularly. It's not a huge harvest, maybe one or two every two weeks. But still, there's something to be said about growing fresh vegetables in one's living room.
I had a rude awakening this week. Two of my tomatoes looked like this.
When I cut the tomato open, it looked like this (blech!)
Naturally, the first thing I thought of was that bugs had gotten into the Aerogarden. But to my relief, after a few searches on Google I realized that this is something called
blossom end rot.
It's a natural disorder caused by a calcium deficiency. According to
Colorado State University, it can be caused by a "combination of cold temperatures or excessive heat during blossom set, and fluctuations in water supply". This makes sense--the heating in my living room is not the greatest, so the Aerogarden has probably been subject to extreme cold with all the snow we've had this winter. Also, there are times I do let the water supply get too low. Finally, I have been using Aerogarden liquid nutrients for herbs--perhaps they don't have the same calcium content needed for tomatoes.
Anyway, I'm fixing all three elements, and we'll see how it goes.
Posted on 26 February 2010 | 9:45 am
For those of you who've owned Aerogardens for a while, you may have hit a situation where your Aerogarden is sitting unused because it's missing a part. The good news is, the Aerogarden Store stocks replacement parts for any Aerogarden, new or old. Whether you need new bulbs or a new pump or even a replacement for any part of your garden, you can get it there.
Here's a compilation of the replacement parts I've found most handy at the Aerogarden store.
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Replacement Filter Pack
Our special filters ensure your AeroGarden continues to work efficiently by keeping root debris out of your pump. For maximum efficiency, we recommend replacing your filters every other time you plant a new garden (about every 6 to 8 months). Pack of ten.
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Replacement Pump
Replacement pump comes with complete step-by-step instructions to replace the pump in your AeroGarden 7-pod garden.
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Grow Bulbs for Deluxe, PRO200, & Elite+ Gardens (Package of 3)
Designed specifically for all gardens that use 3 grow bulbs. Our special, high output, full spectrum, energy efficient grow bulbs provide the optimal amount and type of light needed for robust growth. We recommend replacing your grow bulbs every six months to maximize their growing ability. Three bulbs included.
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Extended Season Nutrients (for Salad Greens)
Now you can extend the life of your healthy and productive plants with our Extended Season Nutrients. Add up to three months of additional growing pleasure. Select from Herbs, Salad Greens or Flowering/Fruiting.
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Extended Season Nutrients (for Vegetables)
Now you can extend the life of your healthy and productive plants with our Extended Season Nutrients. Add up to three months of additional growing pleasure. Select from Herbs, Salad Greens, Flowers or Vegetables.
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Extended Season Nutrients (for Herbs)
Now you can extend the life of your healthy and productive plants with our Extended Season Nutrients. Add up to three months of additional growing pleasure. Select from Herbs, Salad Greens or Flowering/Fruiting.
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Grow Bulb for AeroGarden3 (Package Of 1)
This energy efficient mini grow bulb was engineered exclusively for the AeroGarden3 series AeroGardens. We recommend replacing your Grow Bulb every 6 months to maximize growth. One bulb included.
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Plant Spacer Kit
Give your plants room to grow with our Plant Spacer Kit. Kit includes six (6) AeroGarden Plant Spacers to use with our Master Gardener Kits. Allows your larger plants to spread their branches while covering open grow surface openings to prevent algae growth.
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Grow Bulbs for AeroGarden Classic & PRO100 (Package of 2)
Our special, high output, full spectrum, energy efficient grow bulbs provide the optimal amount and type of light needed for robust growth in the AeroGarden Classic and PRO100. We recommend replacing your grow bulbs every six months to maximize their growing ability. Two bulbs included.
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Silver Color Replacement Arm
Designed specifically for Classic AeroGarden 7-Pod gardens, the replacement arm will keep your garden running like new.
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Posted on 19 February 2010 | 1:55 pm
My biggest harvest of the Aerogarden Tomatoes happened today.
I was racking my brains to think of what to cook, and my thoughts turned to a quick dish my mom used to make called "Tomato Fried Eggs". This is a fairly traditional Asian dish, mainly reserved for those times when you don't have more than 7 minutes to put together a hearty and tasty meal for yourself or your family.
You start out by chopping the tomatoes. Check out how juicy they are!
Then, you fry up some eggs.
After that, you fry up your tomatoes.
Then you put it all together.
Mix it up.
Add salt and pepper and you have yourself a tasty and healthy meal that is phenomenal over rice.
This is a dish that's way too simple and quick to find in restaurants, but for my money there are few comfort foods that are so tasty and good for you too.
I see other tomatoes on the vine, so I'll keep trying to come up with more recipes!
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 8:02 am
I recently wrote a definitive guide to getting rid of gnats. I thought I might provide you with an update.
The tactics I tried (specifically, a combination of covering the pots with aluminum foil, dusting the soil with cinnamon, a homemade trap using white wine, and lots of yellow sticky traps
) worked like a charm. Well, mostly. Every now and then at night a gnat would still fly into my face as if to say "ha ha, you missed me!"
Given that one little fungus gnat can lay up to two to three hundred eggs in its lifetime, it stands to reason that I'll still miss some. And so it was time to bring in the heavy artillery.
David at Gardener's Supply was nice enough to leave a comment on my post talking about something they sell called Gnat Guard
, or "beneficial nematodes". I had no idea what a nematode was, but since the word "tode" is in there, for some reason I thought of little frogs. And as annoying as a home overrun with gnats are, I figured it'd be a lot more annoying to be overrun with frogs.
Well, of course had I not been asleep in biology class all those years ago, I would know that a nematode is a tiny roundworm. Now, roundworms get a bad rap out there because there are some nasty ones out there that get into people's tummies and into dogs' tummies and whatnot.
But something I never knew was that there are good roundworms too. Specifically, little microscopic roundworms that, if put into soil, get in there and start munching away at insect larvae (including gnat larvae), but do zero harm to the plants or to you, your pets, and your kids. Beneficial nematodes have been used by farmers for years as an effective means of pest control without using chemicals or pesticides.
(Having said that, my hats off to the marketing folks at Gardener's Supply Company for calling them "beneficial nematodes" and not "parasitic roundworms").
So, since I was still being overrun by these gnats, I wrote a little note to the good folks at Gardener's Supply Company asking if they could send a sample. I got a nice note back from their PR department saying that a sample was on the way, and giving these instructions:
** You may apply GNAT GUARD anytime soil temps are between 35-85 degrees F.
** Ships UPS (2nd Day) only- allow 1-3 weeks for arrival.
** OPEN IMMEDIATELY upon arrival. Product arrives in a mini-cooler with a
cool pack inside to keep it from overheating. Product itself (sponge)
is OK if warm, room temp, or cool to the touch. Store in refrigerator
if you can't apply right away (be sure mini-cooler is open).
Lo and behold, yesterday I get this package in the mail:
Now what I do remember from biology class is that insects have six legs, and roundworms have none. But I figured Gardener's Supply Company use the same yellow sticker when mailing out things like ladybugs. I opened the box, and thankfully nothing flew into my face.
This is the "cooler", using a miniature version of the ice packs some companies use when sending fresh fruit or perishable food. It was all very neatly packaged, I have never seen a cooler cooler (sorry).
Inside the cooler was this small zip-lock bag with a sponge inside:
The instructions said this:
Gnat Guard
A biological control to rid houseplants and seedlings of fungus gnats and over 100 other insect pests. Gnat Guard nematodes target insect pupa and larvae living in moist soils in the root zone.
Active Ingredient: Steinernema spp.
Contents: 1 million covers 2,000 sq. ft.
Application: (see back label for release information.) For houseplants: 2 tablespoons of concentrate per 8-inch diameter plant. Apply 1 to 2 times per year. For greenhouse plants: apply 1 to 2 times every 3 months.
Storage: These nematodes are alive and should be released as soon as possible. Inside the package is a moist sponge which contains the nematodes. (You can see them with a magifying glass.) Refrigerate at 40 to 50 degrees F to temporarily store the nematodes for a maximum of 2 weeks. The sponge must remain damp. Add a few drops of water if the sponge appears to be drying out.
Release: Remove the sponge from the package. Nematodes migrate into the sponge during shipping. Rinse the sponge and sponge package completely into one gallon of water. You now have a concentrate. Constant agitation of the solution while applying will ensure the most consistent coverage. For smaller applications; such as for houseplants and seedlings, you may use a watering can. For larger applications; such as for greenhouse plants, you can apply the nematodes using an injector system or dilute them with more water and use a pump sprayer, hose-end sprayer, watering can or pail. Do not leave the nematodes in standing water for more than 12 hours.
Important Note: The Gnat Guard must be "watered in" to the soil. A rinse of plain water after they have been applied will help ensure they have been carried into the soil.
And so I following the instructions. I took the blue sponge out of the package. I wasn't tempted to take a magnifying glass to look at the little squirming critters as the package suggested. I figure they'd be happier if they didn't get a good look at me and vice-versa.
I wasn't sure exactly what it meant by "rinse the sponge and sponge package", but I figured this would do it. I bend the sponge into the spout of a one-gallon cleaned-out milk container and put it under the sink's tap.
Once the jug was almost full, I put the sponge in and gently shook it. Presumably, millions of little wormies were now swimming around in the water.
The next step was pouring it into my big plant pots. As you may recall, one of the tactics I used was to cover the top of the planter with foil like this.
This was pretty effective as far as keeping the gnats away, but one unintended consequence was that when I took the cover off, there were at least 2-3 other kinds of creepy crawling things that decided they liked the dark, moist environment. I suppose they'd been sitting in the soil the whole time. Hopefully the little fellows can chomp up their progeny as well as the fungus gnat babies.
Anyway, I poured the nematode concentrate into each pot I could, and then followed it up with more water. When I looked closely at the soil, it sort of "glistened", and I knew my little friends were at work. Now, I thought I might be a little grossed out by the thought of those little things in my house, but at the end of the day I've grown quite fond of them. They're like thousands of little friends who are helping clean my house. And they're safe to have around you, your kids, and your pets.
It's been a few days now, and not one gnat has flown into my face. And so as thanks to Gardener's Supply Company I will happily endorse this product. Get yer Gnat Guard here!
Posted on 24 January 2010 | 8:05 am
With apologies to Donald Trump...
Remember way back when I told a story of two plants? The plant to the left was an eager overachiever from the start, while the one to the right took the longest time popping out.
Aerogrow was nice enough to send another pod, but as I got it in the mail, the second plant finally popped up. While I never really expected much from it, I figured I'd let it ride and see what happened.
Well, if you take a look at the garden. it's a little misleading.
It looks like both plants are thriving. But upon closer examination, the bulk of the foliage is from the plant on the left. The plant on the right really never produced a thing. It grew big, and it's sucking up a lot of the water and the nutrients, but at the end it never produced any flowers. A few weeks ago, some buds did form, but within a few days they dried up and fell off.
So, as it says in the Good Book, "any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire". I tried all I could to get this plant to produce, but at the end it never did. So, off with its head.
Interesting still, when I removed the pod from the Aerogarden, three gnats flew out. Yes, the same gnats that I spent the last post trying to get rid of. Seems that the gnats were flying their way to the bottom of the stalk and laying eggs in the seed pod the whole time! Yet another reason to get rid of the underachieving plant.
So, it's down to one plant, but as you can see it's filled up the unit quite nicely on its own. Hopefully now that it will get all the light and all the nutrients it'll step up even more.
Posted on 12 January 2010 | 11:30 pm
Remember a few months ago I was having a problem with all kinds of critters like whiteflies in the warm weather? I thought I would have a reprieve in the winter, but it seems that I'm being overrun with gnats now.
Gnats (or going by their official name, "fungus gnats") are the same general size as fruit flies (which are tan) or whiteflies (which are, of course, white), but are black. They don't bite or even hurt the plant (except for really young plants and roots) or anything like that, but they're super-annoying because like mosquitoes, they like to buzz in your face and your houseguests' faces at the most inopportune times.
For the past week, I've been obsessing with getting rid of these critters, so I've searched high and low on the Internet for answers. I suppose solace is to be taken in the fact that if these things are bothering you, you're certainly not alone.
Here are some tips for getting rid of them.
- First and foremost, get them at the source. Gnats love to lay eggs in houseplants, especially houseplants that are overwatered and have decaying matter in the pots. Here are some basic things you can do short of throwing your houseplants out:
- Let your plants dry out completely between waterings. This will kill any eggs and larvae that managed to slip in. Your plant will wilt, but it'll survive, but the fly eggs and larvae won't.
- Clear out any dead foliage in your plants. Gnats love decaying plant material.
- Repot your plants with clean soil.
- Consider piling a bunch of sand on top of your soil.
- Consider using saran wrap or aluminum foil to cover up the top of your flower pot so the soil is not exposed and flies can't get in.
- Use cinnamon. That's right, cinnamon. Buy a huge jar at BJs or Costco, and dust a whole lot of the powder onto your houseplants' surface. Any flies on there will scram, because they hate the smell. And they'll never lay their eggs there.
- Get a handheld vacuum cleaner (I like the Dyson Handheld Vacuum
). When you see one, suck it up. Not only do you get rid of one more gnat, you get the enjoy the satisfaction of seeing them buzz around in the canister instead of in your face like some kind of odd science fair experiment.
- Make your own trip. Just get a jar with a tight lid. Fill it with a substance that gnats can't resist, cover the lid, and poke holes in it. The gnats will fly into the jar but they won't be able to fly out, so in a bit of poetic justice, they'll end up drowning in the very concoction they so greedily tried to get. There are a million suggestions of what to add into the jar, I've heard people say the rind of a lemon, white wine, apple cider vinegar, an old piece of a banana peel or lemon.
- Invest in some Yellow Sticky Traps from Gardener's Supply Company. These worked like a charm with whiteflies before, and they seem to be working like a charm with the gnats. The critters are attracted to the bright, very sticky yellow paper and will fly right into them to their demise. As a bonus, they'll act as a "fly detector" too...put them around your Aerogarden and around your houseplants, and the one with the most flies stuck to it will provide a hint as to where the bugs are laying their eggs.
- Make sure there's no standing water or rotting food in the house. If there are, gnats will find them before you do.
- If nothing else, you have a chance to practice your "Mr. Miagi". You don't have to use chopsticks, but it's definitely in your best interest to use your kung-fu skills to smack them with your hands as soon as you see them. An adult can lay 150-300 eggs at a time, so you need to eradicate them as soon as you see one. They are rather quick--there was one the other day that I couldn't get no matter how quickly I clapped my hands, so it ended up sounding like I was giving it a round of applause.
- Now, where your Aerogarden is concerned, gnats love moisture, and they WILL find the hole in your seed pod. And there is nothing quite as revolting as seeing a bunch of little white larvae in your seed pods. Once your plant is mature, consider taking a little aluminum foil and covering up the hole, and constantly checking the leaves and the waters for critters.
I'm not sure how all these gnats got into my house, but I'm trying all of the above to get rid of them. What seems to be working the best are the yellow traps, which I've taped to the sides of my Aerogarden. The next best thing, believe it or not, is the white wine. Each morning I see a few more flies in the jar who partied just a little too hard the previous night.
Posted on 7 January 2010 | 11:28 pm
In the Good Book, there's a verse that says "Four months more and then the harvest". Well, four months after planting the first seed pod, I have my first harvest of tomatoes!
They are real tomatoes, all right. Somewhere between the size of cherry tomatoes and full-grown tomatoes. They're plump, red, and smell great (or as great as tomatoes generally smell)
I racked my brains trying to think of an appropriate way to prepare my very first harvest of tomatoes. The first thing that came to my mind, of course, was
insalata caprese, which I've made before. In fact, I even have some former
Aerogarden basil which I transplanted. Which means the only ingredient for this dish I didn't grow myself was the cheese (and believe you me, once Aerogarden releases their grow-your-own-cheese garden, I'm going to be the first on line :P).
Step one was chopping up the tomatoes. Luckily, I had not grown too emotionally attached to the little guys that this was difficult.
Look how juicy it was.
As you can see, my knife wasn't sharp enough, so remembering the old ginsu commercials, I brought out the sharp knife (which can cut through this tomato as well as a metal can).
By this point I'm getting pretty psyched up. This is the first time since I was in high school that I harvested my very own tomatoes that I grew myself. And it's the first time in my life I harvested my very own tomatoes in January!
The next step was going to my truly old basil plant and picking off a couple good leaves
Now, our local supermarket had mozzarella cheese on sale, but it was the kind that was flat and you rolled it. This is what the package looked like:
Naturally, I wanted to make my insalata caprese just like they did. So I rolled out out the cheese, laid all my tomato slices and basil leaves on it.
After drizzling it with some of my cousin's olive oil and putting some salt and pepper on it, here's what I got.
Not quite the same thing as on the package, but at this point I didn't care. It was yummy yummy good.
Overall, I was very happy with the tomatoes. They looked like tomatoes, felt like tomatoes, smelled like tomatoes, were amazingly juicy, and tasted like really, really fresh tomatoes.
Looking at the plant, I see there are about four more large tomatoes and a couple flowers coming in. I'm still doing the two-week feeding, I'm still adding about 2 liters of water every few days, pollinating the plants, and trimming the excess leaves from time to time. Let's see how long we can get this thing to last!
Posted on 2 January 2010 | 10:12 pm
So, take a look at what I found today!
This was the first VeggiePro tomato that we've been following for weeks. A few days ago it was a very faint red color, but now it's gotten bright and big! A few more days and I'll be harvesting it. So, the burning question is the same one I had with the cherry tomatoes: what is the best recipe I can think of to cook my inaugural tomato? Post a comment if you have any ideas for me!
Posted on 24 December 2009 | 10:01 pm
Well, if you've done it again and put off Christmas shopping to the last minute, Aerogrow is about to bail you out ;)
They're offering Free 2 Day Express Shipping
with any garden purchase. But hurry, in order to get it delivered by Christmas, you need to order NOW!
As you're sitting down for Christmas dinner this year, you can talk about how next year, they can make the stuffing using fresh sage, parsley, and thyme from their own indoor garden! :)
Posted on 21 December 2009 | 12:05 am
Well, two weeks have passed, and take a look at the VeggiePro now.
I count a total of about 6-8 full tomatoes. As someone who used to grow tomatoes outdoors, I can definitely see that the tomatoes would definitely do much better if they were outdoors and not bunched together like this. On the other hand, what a thrill it is to have living tomatoes in the month of December when the temperature is 18 degrees outside!
The Aerogarden Veggiepro hood is officially raised as high as it'll go. The larger plant is close to hitting against the hood, so chances are I'll have to prune it (although I'd hate to, as there are several flowers on that stalk). This larger plant is the one that has the most tomato growth.
I have to say I'm still disappointed with the second plant, though. It's grown large but it was yet to produce flowers that don't fall off immediately; I'm guessing there was definitely something wrong with this batch of seeds. To Aerogrow's credit, they did send me a replacement pod, but I'll keep this original plant going just to see if anything will come of it, and then at some point I'll plant the new pod.
In the meantime, the one plant has all but spread out the entire unit, so I'm not disappointed.
As each week goes by, I'm doing quite a bit of pruning. Of course, any leaves that grow too far out of the light get cut, as well as leaves which turn brown or spotty because they're being covered up. I'm also cutting off some of the larger branches that are clearly not producing flowers or fruit, in order to let more water and nutrients go to the tomatoes.
Something else I've been doing every few days is filling up the unit with water. This thing drinks water at an amazing pace.
As branches have gotten big and flopped toward the ground, I've been using the trellis system that was provided with the VeggiePro. Right now I have three of them supporting the branches, all of which are now producing fruit, some large, and some tiny ones like these cute little guys.
Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have the first fruits to show you. Stay tuned!
Posted on 12 December 2009 | 10:27 pm
(with apologies to Guns N' Roses)
That's right, the two tomato plants are officially gigantic now. The VeggiePro is officially extended all the way it goes. I have still been pruning the parts of the plants that grow outside the grow light area, and I'm now filling the water up about once every two days; the plants are drinking up the water that quickly. I just added two more nutrient tablets too, and of course I'm pollinating the flowers every couple of days too.
So the burning question is...are there tomatoes? Well, take a look:
In total, I count about 10 tomatoes so far on the plant. The biggest two are slightly bigger than cherry tomato size, well on their way of being full-grown heirloom tomato size. There are about five in this picture alone.
Unfortunately, all is not well. I notice there are a LOT of flowers that simply grow weak and fall off. I'm a bit confused as to why this is happening.
Still, as long as I have some flowers that stay on the vine and grow into tomatoes, I'll be satisfied.
One very nice thing about the VeggiePro is that it comes complete with a trellis system, something that previously had been an additional cost. The Trellis system is basically two pieces of plastic you connect to the top of the unit (conveniently, the screws are already there, you just slip the plastic on and tighten the screws).
Here's what it looks like when it's complete:
The system comes with a retractable cord with a plastic snap on the end. Here, you can see me holding up the large plant with one of the cords. As the tomatoes grow larger, this will hopefully stop the plant from snapping and collapsing from the tomatoes' weight.
Not sure how much longer before I'll have tasty tomatoes to enjoy, but you'll be the first to know! :)
Posted on 23 November 2009 | 8:41 pm
If you've been on the fence about buying an Aerogarden, there's a great deal going on. But you have to be quick--the deal ends at the end of the day Monday
It's called 33% off 3 Gardens, 3 Days Only
, and it'll let you purchase
Aerogarden 3 Elite for $79.95 ($50 off)
Aerogarden 6 Elite for $119.95 ($60 off)
Aerogarden Classic (7 pod) for $99.95 ($50 off)
These are probably among the cheapest prices you'll find on the Web for a brand new Aerogarden (Amazon is about $30-$50 more). All the units, of course, come with an herb kit. Great time to stock up for Christmas presents--there are few better presents you can get for the gardener or chef in your life
In other news, interesting developments with my tomatoes. I'll post an update soon! :)
Posted on 21 November 2009 | 4:31 am
2010 Update: Liquid Nutrients are now available in the Aerogarden Store
While I was corresponding with Aerogarden about the slow start of my tomatoes, John at Aerogarden was kind enough to write to me directly. He gave me some good advice that sometimes cold temperature can affect how quickly the seeds germinate and sprout. I expressed that I was still concerned at the very slow start of my second tomato plant, and he was gracious enough to send me a new seed pod (although, as he predicted, I wouldn't need it, as the second plant finally did grow to be strong, albeit several weeks after it probably should have).
John was also kind enough to include in the shipment something a sneak peek into to something neat that Aerogrow is working on. I think it'll will be a huge improvement when it's officially released (he said it'd be sometime in November).
These are new Aerogarden
liquid nutrients.
For those of you who have had multiple Aerogardens like me, you'll know that the nutrient tablets, while cool in a "plop plop fizz fizz" kind of way, do have their drawacks. Opening the packets can be difficult, sometimes the tablets crumble inside the packets because of excessive moisture, sometimes the tablets don't seem to dissolve evenly enough, and often, you can see white specks in and around the Aerogarden unit from the residue of the dust.
I'll show you a demonstration of the liquid nutrients, with the disclaimer that it's not clear when these will be available on the Aerogarden store (may be as early as later this month). But they're so cool I wanted to give you a sneak peek.
The packets sort of look like duck sauce packets that you might find in a Chinese restaurant. Inside is a brown liquid which I assume contains the same rich nutrients found in the tablet.
When the two week "Add Nutrient" light add us, instead of using the tablets, I'd instead open a packet and pour the contents in.
Voila, that's it. Helped by the water pump inside, the nutrients spread evenly throughout the bowl. It's quicker, easier, and more effective.
So look out for these in the coming months on the Aerogarden store. I'll also post a link on this blog once they're available.
One interesting development this week. While I was shaking the first big tomato plant to pollinate it, I was disappointed to see one of the yellow flowers fly off. That is, until I looked more closely at the plant where the flower fell off!
Posted on 9 November 2009 | 6:30 am
Looks like the first plant is making some real progress. Over the last week, a bunch of flowers sprouted. In total, I count about 20 of them!
Now, as far as whether they'll actually turn into 20 tomatoes, that's something we'll find out in time. But following the instructions in the manual, I dutifully shook the stalks to pollinate them. Something I learned with my cherry tomatoes many moons ago was to not only shake them, but to use my finger to "tap" the thickest part of the stalk where the flowers are growing from.
The VeggiePro is definitely gulping up the water--I need to refill the reservoir every couple of days now, and I'm still pruning leaves that grow too far outside the light. The plants are tall and aren't stopping. I'd say it's probably a few more days before I lift the lamp arm one more notch.
Anyway, just wanted to update you on the progress. More soon.
Posted on 3 November 2009 | 9:25 pm
Here's what the plants look like this week.
As you can see, the plant to the right has grown like wildfire since the last update. In fact, the leaves are growing so that they stretch outside of the lights.
The plant to the left has grown surprisingly impressively as well, much more than I expected.
The VeggiePro manual gives instructions to prune the tomato plants after four or five weeks, specifically, to chop off everything that is growing above the first five branches. Since it's been over weeks and the plant doesn't even have five main branches yet, I'll be disregarding this initial pruning and instead skipping ahead to the section titled "ongoing pruning". The instructions here say to cut off leaves that are growing outside the Lamp Hood's lights. Indeed, I noticed that leaves which the lights weren't reaching were growing brown. No use in using up the precious nutrients on leaves that'll never produce fruit.
After pruning, the floor looked like what our kitchen floor used to look like when my dad used to give me haircuts as a kid.
And look at how well-manicured the tomato plant is. Makes me want to go into bonsai. If you click on the photo and take a close look, you'll see that there are even little flower buds starting to form. I've got a good feeling about this. For good measure, I even started hand-pollinating the plants, again from the instruction manual of the VeggiePro.
As you can see, I've been raising the lamp arm to accomodate new growth of the bigger plant, and have been dutifully refilling the water (which now needs refilling once every few days thanks to an impressive root system starting to form and take in the water and nutrients). Having been somewhat burned already by the cherry tomato experience of a few months ago, I'm not getting too excited yet, but after a shaky start, the plants are definitely doing much better.
Posted on 26 October 2009 | 9:50 pm
It's now a complete month since I planted my Aerogarden VeggiePro. Take a look at what's happened to the first of the two tomato plants:
After a shaky start and a little bit of the nudging as I described in the last post, it looks like the first tomato plants are finally making some progress. In total, three plants showed up, one anemic one, but two fairly strong ones. The plants still are very, very much behind what the instruction manual says I should see at this point in time--the manual says that at 4-5 weeks the plants should be extremely thick and ready for pruning. As you can see, the plants are nowhere close to that, but at least they're in the game now.
Since the two "good" plants were about 1-2 inches now, per the instruction manual I took some scissors and thinned them to all but one plant. The one weak plant was easy to get rid of, but it was hard deciding which of the two healthy plants to chop. I chose the one with the slightly thicker stalk and more leaves.
Now for the bad news. The other pod is still extremely disappointing. The very first seed that sprouted is completely dead now. Three others have sprouted. One of them is barely an eighth of an inch tall, and another is about half an inch. In both cases (the same as with the first doomed stalk that came up), the seed outer "shell" portion never came off but stayed stuck to the top of the stalk. I'm no agriculturalist, but I get the sense that this means the plant is not getting the needed light it needs to grow.
In the case of the fourth plant, the seed outer shell finally did come off, but very, very late, which I'm guessing led to the stunted growth you see below. This is after 4-5 weeks, and this, the tallest plant, has a tiny amount of malformed leaves and is not even 1 inch tall. Terribly disappointing.
I'll be contacting Aerogrow this week to explain and to see if they'll send a replacement for the second tomato pod, as this seems highly unusual. I'll let you know what they say.
In all, not a very auspicious start for the VeggiePro. The plants are not growing close to the pace that was suggested on the pod or in the manual, plants are growing under the paper shield, plants are growing stunted.
Posted on 11 October 2009 | 11:06 pm
So, the first sprout you saw in my last post is all but gone. You can see it in this picture below. It was the first out of the gate, but the "seed" part never fell off, the leaves never emerged, and eventually the whole thing shrivelled up.
Luckily, there were two other plants that sprouted up in the same pod. Although neither of them are showing leaves yet either, so we're still not out of the woods yet.
When I looked carefully, I noticed there was a plant wedged underneath the paper cover for the pods (look to the left of the big green sprout in the photo, below the cover).
I took a paper clip and gently nudged the plant so that it went through the hole. The plant was pretty weak, but it was also pretty long, having probably grown for days without me having noticed because it was growing under the cover.
So this is what tomato pod #1 looks like now. The first sprout to come up is officially dead, but there are three others vying to be the top dog. According to the Aerogarden instructions, only the strongest plant can remain--all others must be pruned. So for the next few weeks, we'll have our own tomatoey version of Survivor. While we're waaaay behind what was promised in the instruction manual as far as timing goes, the good news is, we do have greenery. A few more days, and hopefully we'll see a strong winner emerge.
Here's what the other pod looks like. Much better, as the leaves have actually made it on two of the plants. Note that I had to do the paper clip trick to nudge that top plant out into the sunlight. Again, we'll see if the lights and nutrients can get the weak plant a little stronger. If I were a betting person, I'd put money on the lowermost plant though.
Will provide an update in a few days. But it looks like they're all out of the gate, with a little help from a paper clip!
Posted on 29 September 2009 | 3:15 pm
We've just passed the 14-day mark of the VeggiePro. Right on cue, the unit started flashing "Add Nutrients" and "Water Level Low". I added two nutrient tablets from the one pouch marked "Growing Nutrients" and added a little water to bring the water back to the fill line.
I was a bit disappointed because the seed pod says on it that plants should appear in 4-7 days. After 9 days I saw nothing, so I wrote to Aerogarden.
Hi. I planted my Heirloom Tomatoes in my new days ago. I still do not see any plants, not even a hint of a plant, even though the label said I should see something in 4-7 days. I have three other Aerogardens, so I know I am doing everything right. What can I do now?
Here's the response from CJ at Aerogarden:
It is not unusual for germination to be slower than is expected. I can offer a personal tip as I fill the plastic dome with water and pour the water directly down the center of the hole three or four times a week for slower germinating plants. Always replace the dome to create the little greenhouse effect.
If you do not see any germination by the end of two weeks, Please call customer care at 1-800-476-9669 so they can help diagnose the problem when you are with your new garden. Our hours are: 7:00am-6:00pm, M-F, MDT.
I admit, at first I was a little skeptical. And then on Day 10, out of nowhere, this little guy showed up.
It still doesn't look like the strongest plant, but it's a start. Per the instructions in the manual, I removed the dome. Let's see how it fares over the next two weeks.
The other pod was still barren. I looked down inside the pod and saw absolutely nothing. So I followed Aerogarden's suggestion and poured some water right into the pod, and replaced the plastic dome tightly. Right away, I noticed something I didn't before on the VeggiePro (but which I did see in my earlier Aerogardens): little beads of condensation formed inside the dome. This is the "little greenhouse effect" that CJ spoke of, and it's brilliant.
I took this picture today. If you look carefully, you'll see an itty bitty little plant forming. Granted it's about 10 days after I expected, but things are looking good.
We're not out of the woods yet, of course. I expected 2-3 plants to grow (which would later be pruned), but it looks like each is only yielding one so far. But we'll wait and see a few days and see if these two get strong. Stay tuned!
Posted on 24 September 2009 | 1:30 pm
Well, the time has come to retire the Gourmet Herb Aerogarden. Here are the report card for this round:
Mint: A+
Basil: A+
Purple Basil: B-
Chives: C
Parsley: D
Thyme: D
Dill: F
For some reason, this round of gourmet herbs which started three months ago back in June didn't quite live up to previous experiences. The mint and basil were excellent, of course. But the purple basil barely got off the ground, the chives produced only a few thin sprouts, the parsely and thyme popped up but didn't grow at all, and the dill didn't even come up at all.
I'm going to give Aerogrow the benefit of the doubt and guess that I just got a bad batch of seeds. I recently purchased a fresh set of seeds, so hopefully my next Aerogarden won't have this problem. I ordered my seeds through Just the Aerogarden Store
, so there's less of a risk that it's been sitting in a retailer's warehouse for a long time. Another nice thing about ordering through the Aerogarden store is that you can pick-and-choose your seed kits (perfect for me, as I don't use dill, but I could always use extra cilantro, for example).
Anyway, I accidentally destroyed my mint plants, but the basil plant was going strong. Just like in old times, I decided to use up the basil (which has been an overachiever since day one). I took my own advice from June 2008 on what to do with too much basil. That's right--pesto, pesto, pesto! I used the same pesto recipe that I used back then.
I picked three cups of loosely packed leaves, taking 40% of the regular basil plant and 100% of the small purple basil plant, and then added the four tablespoons of basil I had frozen. The result is what you see to the right. I put it in the freezer for me to enjoy throughout the next few months.
This left the Aerogarden looking like this.
I took the remaining chives and thyme, chopped them and froze them. My vast harvest was one teaspoon of chives and half a teaspoon of thyme.
My next step will be to find a recipe that uses exactly one half teaspoon of thyme and one teaspoon of chives :)
The remaining step was
replanting the basil plant into a pot. While the other pods were somewhat anemic in their root structure, the basil was certainly impressive. Because I'd chopped off so many of the leaves to use for pesto, I also trimmed a bit of the root. Unlike what I did before, I also decided to leave the plastic on instead of cutting it apart.
Finally, it came time to harvest the Mesclun. I chopped the remaining lettuce off every single plant and you can see the beautiful variety of leaf shapes and textures. It produced enough lettuce for two large salads.
I had a vegetable tray from my local supermarket, and as usual, I took a picture for plating presentation...
Once I got that silliness out of my system I threw together some tomatoes, red pepper, Parmesan cheese, and steak (leftover from lunch at Ruth's Chris!) and put some Catalina dressing on. Mmmmm!
So now, my Classic Aerogardens are all officially retired.
I'll start them again some day, but for the immediate term I'm looking to focus all my efforts on the VeggiePro.
Posted on 21 September 2009 | 7:52 pm
I was lucky enough to get one of the first AeroGarden VeggiePros delivered to my door yesterday. This is the AeroGarden model that will allow you to grow full-sized fruits and vegetables. In fact, in the coming months, AeroGarden will release new seed kits under its "County Fair" line of seed kits focused on full-sized vegetables, including bell peppers and of course, full-size tomatoes.
As a former tomato gardener who's been consigned to apartment living, I made sure to get the VeggiePro with the free Heirloom tomato kit. It was delivered quickly.
I came home to see the box from UPS. It was a little beat up...
But happily, the box inside was in great shape, complete with sales slip.
As I found with my other three Aerogardens, the package design of the VeggiePro was impeccable. Opening the box, you immediately see a Quick Start guide. The first thing I noticed is that the manual is for the AeroGarden Elite 6 Plus, which confirms my suspicion that the VeggiePro is essentially the same thing as what they'd been selling earlier as the Elite 6 Plus. I'm not complaining, because the price is at least $20 less, and it comes with the Heirloom Tomato kit and the Trellis kit, neither of which were included in the Elite 6 Plus.
The box is packaged in layers with different pieces of the VeggiePro. The top layer contains one grow light (these are the new grow lights with more efficient and stronger light spectrum than the old style grow bulbs that I'm used to with my old 7-pod Aerogarden Classics.
It also contains the Heirloom tomato kit, with plenty of nutrient tablets, spacers, and two tomato seed pods. This is similar to what I saw with the cherry tomato Aerogardens--though there are six spaces in the AeroGarden unit for seed pods, only two tomato seed pods are included in order to give the tomato plants plenty of room to grow. The other four slots are filled with spacers that cover the holes so dust and critters can't get in.
The next layer in the box is the cover for the unit, as well as the trellis system (designed to keep the plants upright when they grow big)
The bottom layer of the box is the base of the unit, along with the remaining two grow bulbs.
Even though I've gotten pretty good at assembling Aerogardens by now, I decided to follow their instructions and read the manual carefully again. Happily, the process was just as simple as it always is. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes.
The first step was inserting the arm into the base unit unti you hear a "click".
Step two was plugging the grow bulbs in until you hear a "click".
The next step was plugging the cord from the base unit into the lamp unit.
The next step was attaching the arm to the lamp unit until, you guessed it, you hear a "click". The arm is a lot thicker than the old Aerogarden Classic arm, because it extends to two full feet.
When I examined the unit closely, I noticed some differences between the VeggiePro and the earlier classic Aerogardens I have. I believe Aerogrow introduced these improvements with the AeroGarden 6 units. The biggest improvement is that the pump system no longer pumps water through the individual seed pods, but rather pumps water through the center of the unit, causing it to bubble up the middle much like a fish tank aerator. This is what the new pump system looks like:
Voila! The completed Aerogarden VeggiePro. I decided to put it in a corner of my living room. The instructions clearly state that vegetables needs a solid block of time of complete darkness, so I put the unit in a place where it could be completely dark between about midnight to 8 AM (the light cycle is on for 16 hours and off for eight). Also, I wanted to put it in a place far away from windows so critters won't get any ideas of setting up shop there. This is where my previous Aerogarden experience comes in handy.
The seed kit had a beautiful new brochure explaining how to grow the "county fair" line of vegetable seeds. I knew this was "hot off the press" because it had a error sheet correcting a mistake it had made in the book about which slots to plant the seed pods in.
Speaking of the seed pods, this is what it looked it. It's much taller than the traditional Aerogarden pods I'm used to.
The next step was filling the base unit with exactly one gallon of water. I find that an old, cleaned out milk carton or in this case, a bottle of Hawaiian Punch is very handy for this purpose.
Following the instructions on the error sheet, I plugged the seed pods into the front two spots in the unit on the far left and right. The rest of the slots were filled with plant spacers.
As with the old Aerogardens, I put a plastic dome on top of the seed units so the seeds don't dry out and get the perfect amount of humidity and light.
As with the other Aerogardens, I added the two starting nutrient tablets.
Plug it in, and select "Vegetables" on the front panel, and the lights went on and the pump started pumping.
That's it. And so, Aerogarden #4 is on its way. Let's hope that the experience is more like the herbs and not so much like the cherry tomatoes or the peapods.
Posted on 10 September 2009 | 8:43 am
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