2023 Gardening Thread

Assembly required. Lolol

Hikr, does that trellis fasten to the light hood now? Mine don't (first generation). I've been going to drill some holes to fasten mine. Looks like they got the same idea. Those trellises with no support are pretty much useless. Herbs don't really need a trellis, FYI. Also FYI for future gardens, it's way, way cheaper to buy a pkg of grow sponges and a qt of liquid nutrients and use your own seeds than to buy the over priced kits. You can reuse the plastic baskets. Make note of any seeds you like from kits. Sometimes you can buy the same seeds yourself or use another variety.

I have never once been able to get chives to grow.

Don't forget you need distilled water for AGs, no tap water or well water. I use rainwater in the summer and store some in a big plastic trash can in the fall, then harvest snow once it's available. Water is over $1/gallon here so when i have a bunch of gardens running it gets spendy to buy water. WM used to have water fairly cheap, but of course no WM here.

Plants in dirt benefit from the the spillover light from AGs. If you want to grow something that won't do well hydroponically, put the pot next to the AG so the "daylight" hrs are extended. Very helpful on short winter days especially.

You'll have so much fun with your garden! Congrats!

Today is day one! Let’s see what happens next. Lol. I planted peas, chives, thyme and basil. It’s a nice looking unit. I left a couple of spots open for other things. I am not sure what I want to plant there. I debated strawberries but I’ve been thinking about that and leaning towards “not my best idea”. The unit came with a pack of preseeded herbs. I also bought a package of the seed pods with no seed in them and that’s what I planted the peas in. I have flat parsley, Italian parsley, dill, mint and Thai basil preseeded pods left. I am so excited for this.

SD the trellis attaches at the base unit vs the top. I have never used a trellis with the herbs but the peas will need it so I went ahead and put it up. Grow sponges? How do they work with the roots etc? These have what looks like dirt in the basket but maybe there’s a sponge underneath? I do have two bottles of plant food as one came with each package of baskets etc. I figured it would cheaper to get more locally vs ordering from Aerogarden.

@RedSpruce I saw the Farm units on the website and those were really pricy. This one was pricier than I’d like but I’ve been wanting one for a long time and I’ve kept my eye out for sales etc. They do have sales. You can sign up for their emails. My niece has the Sprout model and grows tomatoes in it. She is loving it. That one was under a hundred dollars (US).

I'm not sure peas will work in an AG. Not everything likes being grown in water. Let me know how that goes. I haven't looked at their seed kits in yrs so don't know if they've added new plants or not.

They do make a strawberry kit but I think it requires a special setup.

Baby Romaine lettuce does very well in AGs. Many herbs do, too.

I like that new trellis design. The old ones I have attach only to the post of the hood with no other support. Useless.

They must have changed the growing medium, too. I have little round pellets that drop into the baskets, with a dimple molded in the top for seeds.

Start all your pods at the same time. It doesn't work to start some later because taller plants will shade new sprouts and they won't do well. Basil is likely to go wild and hog up space and light. It usually does very well.

You can't use just any nutrients in AGs, but if you discover something cheaper that works, let me know.

I can see I haven't kept up with AG's progress so have to do some research.

You need a tall model with 3' hood to grow tomatoes and peppers. They get huge.

Except for herbs and lettuce, chances are you can't grow enough food to save money on it, especially if you buy water. I think all the hoods are LED now so that saves on power.