Indoor Gardening with The AeroGarden

Most gardeners are probably looking forward to planting gardens outside, but with the the nice weather on the horizon, I decided to plant an indoor garden first.

My AeroGarden has been sitting there, empty and lonely and neglected, for months and months—maybe even years now?

So, I finally decided to replant it with a seed kit I’ve also had sitting idle for months and months.

Problem uno: Wrong size seed kit! I didn’t know they made a 3, 6, AND 7-seed kit. I was planning on using this kit in my 7-seed garden, even though it only had 6 pods. That should have been my first clue, but I didn’t realize they come in different proprietary sizes.

Luckily, I just so happened to have the 3-pod garden, too! Because everyone has an extra AeroGarden hanging around, right?!

I got the little white one for my birthday back in 2008 when I was on my indoor growing kick.

The pods fit in this one, just like they were meant to. YAY! I should probably read packages more closely in the future.

I had to get my stepboard to take pictures. Yes, I am THAT short. I love standing on it! Makes me feel like a grown-up, LOL. I’m hoping in my lifetime they will come out with a drug to make adults grow taller, without side effects that will kill you of course.

Water in reservoir; add nutrient tablets; plug it in – check, check, check!

Being I could only choose 3, I planted the basil, Italian parsley, and oregano. Next time I go to Middletown I’ll buy yet another 7-seed kit for the other one. They’re very expensive; $20 each box! Kind of worth it, though. They do grow a lot of herbs. I haven’t tried growing anything else in them yet, but if I come across the other seed kits, I just might be tempted to.

Grow, my pretties!!!

When they start to sprout in 3-7 days, I’ll remove the caps. It’s so exciting when they sprout! FYI: Those bright grow lights are bug magnets. Not looking forward to that part!

Did you know that I grew up on a small farm? My parents grew outdoor flowers in our industrial-sized greenhouses. I didn’t appreciate it back then, but I would do anything to have that right now. Sigh. I remember every January/February my parents would start the seedlings in the basement with grow lights. It was kind of creepy down there, but thinking back, it was a pretty elite setup! I can’t wait to have something similar when we buy a house. Who knew I’d revert back to loving what I didn’t much care for as a child? I guess you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, right? hehe

When the weather gets warmer—possibly never here in the upstate NY mountains—I’m also going to plant a small potted garden on the deck, and maybe Dustin will even build a raised box garden for me? I hope so! I’ll have to start seedlings soon and then transplant, but I’ll need some additional materials if I want them to, ya know, live, LOL.

These are some seeds I hope to plant:

I grew a small pot of cayenne peppers last year. They grew and grew and grew—all the way into October!! Sadly, I didn’t do what I planned with them, but I was happy to know that I can successfully grow things in smallish pots.

Are you gardening this year? Indoor/outdoor? Do you have an AeroGarden or anything similar? Dustin is as handy and creative as they come, a natural engineer if you will, so he swears he could build me a way better system than the flimsy, overpriced AeroGarden that I just had to have one two of. Think he can do it? Let’s challenge him!

My tummy is in knots. Definitely should not have had that Chinese food today. Ugh. I’ll be paying for this well into tomorrow. Going to watch Family Guy on Tivo now. Nite nite!

Tagged as: AeroGarden, gardening, grow lights, herbs, indoor garden, planting, plants, seeds