Remember those episodes of Star Trek when they showed tasty vegetables and fruits growing on the spaceship? I remember watching as a kid, mesmerized as the ship’s horticulturists cultivated exotic flowers and served up scrumptious produce to Star Ship Enterprise passengers.
So when I saw the first AeroGarden in the mid-2000s, I had to have one. I invested in the very first AeroGarden model and grew my own space age vegetables. My first crop was a mass of lettuce that I’m sure rivaled any salad greens served up to Captain Kirk.
(AeroGarden)
Today’s AeroGarden models are even better. The state-of-the-art hydroponic growing system features a cutting-edge LED lighting system. The powerful lights simulate sunlight and are long-lasting and cost just pennies a day to run.
The system may look space age, but it’s surprisingly easy to use. You simply fill the reservoir with water, insert seed pods and program the system. The combination of circulating water and timed lighting and fertilizing leads to seed germination, healthy growth and tasty produce.
“The AeroGarden allows you to grow just about anything indoors at any time of year,” says Paul Rabaut, marketing director for AeroGarden and an avid indoor gardener. “The system is nearly foolproof to use and helps ensure indoor gardening success.”
The AeroGarden system offers 50 pods featuring a wide variety of non-GMO seeds. You can grow and enjoy your own salad greens, various herbs, cherry tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers and flowers like zinnia and celosia. They even have empty seed pods in which you can put your own seed.
(AeroGarden)
There’s also a 31-pod seed starter kit that fits in the newer AeroGarden models. I’ll be trying this system out very soon on some coleus. Stay tuned for my results here.
Rabaut experiments with AeroGardens in the office and enjoys two gardens at home. In one he grows herbs and vegetables for cooking, and in the other he loves to grow flowers. “The celosias with their vibrant colors are my favorite,” he says.
The AeroGarden features a water reservoir and pump, as well as the LED lighting system. Some models also come with an app you can use to receive planting and growing instructions via Wi-Fi.
“The instructions are specific to indoor growing,” says Rabaut. “For instance, you can learn how to prune your herbs and hand-pollinate your vegetables, so they’ll produce. Indoor plants can’t rely on outdoor pollinators like bees—so you need to do the bee’s job.”
The AeroGarden was created by two indoor gardening enthusiasts in 2002. By 2006, they launched the growing system and received positive reviews. In 2013, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company became an equity investor. Today, the AeroGarden is sold online and in stores throughout the U.S. and in several other countries.
(AeroGarden)
Choose from several AeroGardens. They have everything from their standard models featuring six growing pods for six different plants, to countertop mini gardens that grow three plants, to large “farm” models where you can cultivate an indoor garden worthy of feeding the Star Ship Enterprise. There’s even a kid’s pizza herb AeroGarden.
The secret to the AeroGarden’s success are the LED lights that simulate sunlight. Most indoor gardeners who try growing veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers don’t do well, because there’s not enough light. A window might be bright, but it doesn’t deliver the same kind of light you find outdoors.
The AeroGarden system delivers plenty of the right light. When you program the system to grow certain crops, the lights turn on and off according to how much light that particular crop requires.
The sky—or should I say—the universe—is the limit when it comes to what you can grow indoors in your AeroGarden. Give it a try and let me know how your indoor garden grows!