Best 2020 - AeroGarden, Black Bounty, garden

Best Gardening & Lawn Care 2020 ✔ AeroGarden, Black Bounty, garden. 

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👍power_source_type: Battery Powered

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AeroGarden Indoor Gardening & Hydroponics I now have 3 of these AeroGardens and also grown veggies and herbs in soil under T5 florescent and LED lighting. Although the AeroGarden is automated and makes care of the plants easier for the novice and convenient for countertop growing, the yield is not as bountiful as growing in soil under lights. Deepening on volume, growing under T5 florescent lighting will cost twice the electricity of this unit. If using LED bulbs, the costs will be similar to the AeroGarden. This 45-watt AeroGarden cost about $1.43/month for electricity when the lights are on for 16 hours/day.The beauty of the AeroGarden is that it can be kept on a countertop and convenient for harvest. On the WIFI version of the AeroGarden, you can download an app on your phone to control it, but, as yet, I haven’t found a use for the app as the digital display on the unit provides all of the necessary controls.To-date, I have planted the seed pod kits for lettuce, the smoothie kit, the herb kit and the Mighty Might tomatoes with the following results.1. The lettuce variety – This was the best of the seed kits I tried. A couple of the lettuce varieties germinated much slower than the others and were shaded too much to grow. Of the 9 seed pods, I lost 2 to slow growth. All the other varieties grew very well. Initially, I was harvesting leaves of each plant, but later found that the “haircut” method worked better to keep the lights low enough to promote growth of the shorter plants. For future plantings, I will try the “haircut” method to see if more usable lettuce is produced. At any rate, for a family of 3 we have had numerous salads from one planting of lettuce. I do add other greens that I grow in soil, so the lettuce produced in the AeroGarden is a small part of the greens in our salads.2. The smoothie kit was a total bust. This kit includes kale, beet greens, and mustard greens. Of the three beet greens, only 1 germinated. The other two were replaced, but only one of the replacements germinated. The one that germinated died off by the time it was 1” tall. The leaves of the remaining beet greens have died off before the got big enough to use. The mustard greens went to seed by the time they were 4” tall, so nothing was usable. At 5”, the kale plants started turning to red, then brown, and dried up. One of the plants rotted at the stem and fell on the floor. Even the young kale leaves were tough and leathery. So, none of this kale was usable. (See update for cause and resolution.)3. The herb kit that comes with most of the AeroGardens does produce some nice herbs, but the growth of some herbs included quickly shades the smaller varieties. The parsleys and dill do very well, but the kits including thyme, basil, chives, and mint that were quickly shaded because of their low growth habit. I have also found that other than the parsleys and dill, there is not enough produced to be usable.4. The Mighty Mite tomatoes are a determinate plant meaning that all of the tomatoes are produced at one time rather than spaced over a longer period of time. This variety of tomato is very tart and if not picked at the peak of development becomes mushy. After I planted these tomatoes and they germinated, rather than cut them of as suggested, I pulled all but one plant from each seed pod and transplanted the seedlings in soil. All but one of the 19 seedlings survived, and the tomatoes produced in soil have averaged much larger than the ones in the AeroGarden. I have since called AeroGarden and suggested a different variety of small bush tomatoes they should try that is a stronger bush with sweeter tomatoes.Setup of this AeroGarden is so easy, and once started, the AeroGarden will let you know when to add nutrients and water, although plant growth is better if you keep the water level up. If the electricity goes off, the AeroGarden will ask you whether the electricity when off or you want to start a new garden. If you select the electricity went off, all of the settings are saved but you need to enter the current time. You don't have to be a botanist or knowledgeable about growing plants to use these gardens. They tell you when to add water and the supplied nutrients. You don't have to worry about produce spoiling before you use it as it is fresh when you are ready to harvest. If you choose to grow lettuce for salads, it just keeps growing as you harvest. This method is so much easier and cleaner than growing in soil as you don't have to worry about over or under watering.Although the initial cost of the AeroGardens and pods are on the high side as compared to buying the veggies and herbs in store, I like that I can harvest them as I need them. I can't tell you how many times my husband as bought fresh herbs or lettuce that most or all was moldy by the time I wanted to use them. I know it may take a while to reach a break even point, but I am totally enjoying harvesting fresh lettuce for salads and fresh herbs when I need them in recipes. I don't think of growing veggies and herbs in the AeroGardens so much as a financial savings, but the convenience of harvesting fresh produce as I need it and knowing how it was grown.I have included a few pictures of my AeroGardens as well as pictures of my shelves that I grow veggies under lights. I do like the AeroGardens for growing some things, but also prefer growing under lights when I want quantity. More recently, I have tried growing watercress in the AeroGarden and this seems to be working so far as watercress is a semi-aquatic plant.UPDATE 11/11/18:Whether you have one of these AeroGardens or not, I want to share one point of maintenance and possible reason for growing problems that is not documented by AeroGarden. In cleaning this AeroGarden for the next planting, I found that roots from the previous planting had grown into the top of the AeroGarden preventing the water circulation in most of the pod holders. I got as much of the roots out of the spouts that I could, but still water was not flowing from 4 of the water spouts. After wasting an entire evening trying to clear out the roots in the water circulation system, my husband found a post in a blog that told how to get the roots out of the system. On the underside of the planting deck there are 6 tabs - one on each end and two on the front and back. By pushing each of these tabs to the outside, the top of the deck is released and the roots can be easily removed from the watering system. In my opinion, this is something that AeroGarden should include in their maintenance instructions. This problem is also the reason that I lost most of the plantings in that AeroGarden. Some of the plants weren't getting enough water, so they they dried up and died. On the new AeroGardens, I also don't like that you can't see the water level except for what can be seen in the small compartment for adding water. On the older AeroGardens, you could easily see if the water level was up to the gauge in the middle of the water container.UPDATE 01/02/18:I had to add one more update for the Mighty Mite tomatoes which are shown in the last picture. These tomatoes were started 143 days ago and are still flowering and producing new tomatoes. Although I had initially thought these were a determinant variety, they have proven to be indeterminate as they continue to produce. Honestly, we can't use these tomatoes as fast in salads as they are producing. I may have to harvest them before the spoil and freeze them for use in cooking.UPDATE 06/02/19:My final post to this review is to explain the benefits and downsides of the unit or any other AeroGarden for that matter. These units are good for the beginner that doesn't have much experience with indoor growing or those that don't have much space to devote to it. Most of the plants provided in the grow kits will grow fine initially, but the AeroGardens don't provide the space they need for mature growth. These units are good for starting plants that you plan to move to pots or gardens as they get larger, but you must provide the specific plant what it needs until it grows roots suited to soil. Vegetables such as tomatoes or green peppers can be started in an AeroGarden, but the vegetables produced will not be of the quality that you can grow in soil and a larger space. The same holds true for most of the herbs such as basil, chives, thyme, etc. In order for most of these to be useful, they must be large plants that could not be grown in the space of an AeroGarden. The tomatoes I grew in the AeroGarden were very small and tart. The same plants move to flats in soil produced tomatoes that were well over 3 times larger and sweet. About the only thing you can grow in an AeroGarden that remains productive and grows successfully is some varieties of lettuce. Other than some lettuces, most plants will need to be transplanted to soils for successful growing. The last picture is of a tomato plant I transplanted from the AeroGarden into soil and grew it under plant lights. Not only is the plant much larger, but the tomatoes are as well. The tomatoes grown in soil are sweet as the ones grown in the AeroGarden are tart.If you find this review helpful, please click on helpful so that other people may find this review.

Best AeroGarden Indoor Gardening & Hydroponics 

AeroGarden Indoor Gardening & Hydroponics When I first received it I just loved it! I got 2 full harvests of wonderful herbs that I used fresh and also dehydrated for future use. Then one morning after having it less than 10 months it stopped working....no light and no pump to circulate the water. The documents that came with it indicated it had a 1 year factory warranty, so I emailed the company. I received NO response. I am hard of hearing so phoning was not something that I usually do. I emailed a second time as well as putting a very poor review on their website. I have still not heard from AeroGarden!!! I guess they just ignore their customer with broken products.