Green Gift Scene

I don’t know what inspired me to buy an AeroGarden as a gift for my parent’s last year, but I’m glad I did. Perhaps it was seeing those persuasive commercials, or the fact that my parents like fresh produce, but have little luck with their home garden. In any case, they have been using this unique indoor garden non-stop for months with great results and I have been enjoying lots of pesto courtesy of their surplus basil crop.

The AeroGarden is ideal for people who hate tending a real garden or just can’t seem to grow anything but weeds. At about the size of a small microwave oven, it’s also ideal for apartment dwellers or those living in urban areas with no land to plant and little indoor space. The base kit comes with an herbal variety pack and additional packs can be purchased for around $20 with salad greens, cherry tomatoes, chili peppers, flowers, and even strawberries available.

Each plant comes packaged in a little sealed cup. You simply put the cups in holes on the unit, fill the bottom with water, and add the supplied nutrient packs when the unit indicator tells you to do so. The “aeroponic” growing system uses no dirt or natural sunlight – the plant roots grow in a 100% humidity environment suspended in air. The energy efficient growing lights on the unit are timed to go on and off exactly when needed. Your only other job is to occasionally raise the height on the lamp – and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll need to do so as your plants grow rapidly!

The manufacturer claims you can expect to harvest herbs and greens in 28 days and I can attest that this is indeed true. In fact, my parent’s unit produced sprouts within 3 or 4 days and they were enjoying basil and other herbs within a couple of weeks! In fact, the herbs kept growing and growing and sprouting and sprouting for about ten months! Believe it or not, the basil plant got so big they had to trim it with a pruning tool. Only just recently did they switch to the tomato plants, and I’ll keep you posted on how those turn out.

So why do I consider this product “green”? A few reasons: The seed packets and nutrients supplied are “organic based” – producing super-enriched plants The growing lights supplied are energy-efficient, full-spectrum Growing via this method instead of in a garden means your aren’t loading the soil with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Most importantly, growing your own produce means your aren’t creating a carbon footprint to have it shipped to a store and then to your home

Sometimes you can’t believe what you see advertised on TV, but the AeroGarden is an absolute exception in my book. If you can read and follow basic instructions, you can make stuff grow with this thing. The only knock I can think of for this product is that you can only use the seed packets from the manufacturer. It’s a great gift, but they actually sold out of them last holiday season, so best to grab one now. Pick one up at Amazon.com and your thumb will finally be as green as the rest of you.

Prices and more information : AeroGarden Garden Kit