Got AeroGarden?

If, like me, your Basil plants were hampered by the cold weather last spring and destroyed by the early frosts last fall, you might want to think about investing in an Aerogarden and grow them indoors like I have been doing.


I got my first Aerogarden last spring, a model called VeggiePro, and grew tomato plants in it. I cannot say they did all that well because although the plants grew really well, I did not have a supply of bees in my office and had to pollinate the flowers myself.
The timing of the pollination seems important and I found I was missing more than I was pollinating. On top of that the flavor of the tomatoes were nothing special (but neither were the garden ones come to think of it). I stuck it out until I had picked the last tomato and then decided it was best not to grow anything that really needed pollination again. Enter the Basil . . . . . .

In November I purchased an international basil kit for the Aerogarden that contained seven different varieties. My Aerogarden model comes with six growing ports, so I put one aside to plant later. Deb and I were harvesting basil by early December and are still harvesting. The forte of this device is definitely the production of herb. I am amazed every time I cut off a bunch of leaves for salad or a sandwich and come back to find the plant is already sprouting again. Just last week the plants were getting a bit large so I cut every plant down from about 18 inches to under 12, which gave us enough leaves to make over one pint of superb Pesto. The plants were little more than stalks with a few token leaves I left to help photosynthesis, but they are already bursting out of the leaf nodes and generating more yummy Growth! When they say to can cut back basil almost indefinitely, they are not kidding. So for the price of a $15 kit (bought on Amazon), we have enjoyed over six months of basil harvest without the risk of frost.


Last week, I bought another Aerogarden. This is called the Aerogarden Classic 7, and has space for seven pods. It came with the "Gourmet" herb kit, which contains Genovese basil, Dill, Thyme, Mint, Oregano, Globe basil, and Lemon basil. Having grown the globe and lemon basils before, I decided not to plant those this time and replaced those seeds with another Genovese basil and a Cilantro. When I grew the Globe basil during the fall I found it was such a small plant that it was shaded by the larger basils, and the lemon bail is still growing in my first Aerogarden.
Genovese is the classic Pesto basil, so having two will be great. In the original "International Basil" kit I got Napolitano, Lemon, Thai, Globe, Red Rubin, Marseille, and Genovese. The Napolitano is truly amazing. It's leaves are large enough that you can put two on a sandwich just as you would a lettuce leaf, and it has an excellent anis-basil flavor. The Marseille and Genovese are pretty much the same, while the Red Rubin has almost s faint clove-like flavor. The Aerogarden company also allows you to custom build your kits, and in future I think I will take that route. The custom herb kit costs $4 more, but at least you get the plants that you really want.


So, if you love fresh herbs year round and do not want to be at the mercy of the weather, you might want to consider an Aerogarden. They start at under $60 (on Amazon anyway) for a 3 pod unit up to almost $200 for an "elite" unit with extra bulbs, a trellis system, extra height, and stainless steel trim. you could even get one that is specially designed to fit in a corner.

Their website is http://www.Aerogarden.com, and if you sign up for a catalog and emails there are often good deals to be had. I got my first one on Amazon, and Think it is a good place to start.