I’m a little obsessed with growing my own food lately. It’s just so satisfying—not only is it awesome from a health perspective, but it’s also amazing to tend to little sprouts and watch them transform into beautiful bouquets of lettuce, clumps of baby red tomatoes and all kinds of herbs.
But if you don’t have an outdoor space to sow a garden, you can still get in on the fun thanks to the high-tech AeroGarden indoor gardening system, which makes it possible for quite literally anyone to grow produce, right from the comfort of your home.
What Is the AeroGarden?
AeroGarden sells a variety of indoor gardening systems, ranging from compact countertop versions that hold just a few plants to large standalone options that produce enough food for a whole family. I have the AeroGarden Farm 12, which is one of the brand’s mid-size products. It holds 12 seed pods and has a large height-adjustable LED grow light. The entire unit stands about 3 feet tall but is slim enough to tuck in a corner.
It’s super easy to put together, and because the garden has a grow light, you can place it anywhere in your home, even if there’s not a whole lot of natural light. (This also means you can grow produce year-round!) I actually found a good spot for the AeroGarden in my basement, where the temperature was cooler and ideal for growing lettuce.
The brand offers a variety of seed pods to use in their gardens—basically K-cups filled with soil and seeds—allowing you to sprout everything from basil, parsley and other fresh herbs to larger plants like cherry tomatoes and lettuce. There are even some flower seed pods if you want to grow beautiful blooms to make your own bouquets.
Why Is the AeroGarden So Awesome?
I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t know how to grow plants, though.” That’s what is so great about AeroGarden—it’s truly beginner-friendly.
The system syncs up to your phone, and every few days, you’ll get a friendly AeroGarden tip on how to keep your garden growing successfully. It even sends helpful alerts when you need to add plant food or more water to your system. Plus, you can adjust the amount of light through the app (there’s a touch-screen control panel on the unit itself, too) or even sync it up to Alexa and give it voice commands. How’s that for smart?
Not only is the AeroGarden easy to control, but it yields amazingly beautiful plants. The brand claims its plants will grow 5 times faster than using traditional methods, and after a few weeks, tiny leaves emerged from each of my pods. Once they reached a good pruning stage, my first harvest yielded enough salad greens for a family of three—and then some. I’ve continued to harvest beautiful, vibrant greens and herbs that are so perfect they should be photographed in our studio! (Truly, any food stylist would be smitten with these greens.) The AeroGarden Farm 12 even features a trellis system to support tall growers like tomatoes and peppers. That’s next on my wish list!
Oh, and here’s another great thing about the AeroGarden Farm 12: Once your plants are fully grown, you can transplant them to pots and eventually add them to an outdoor garden, if you have one. The brand provides plenty of tips on how to successfully transplant your plants, and once they’re happily rooted elsewhere, you can start over again, sprouting fun new seeds.
What Can You Do With Your Freshly Grown Food?
There’s so much you can do with the fresh food from your AeroGarden—in fact, the garden often produces so much that you might have to get creative.
Here are our favorite ways to cook with fresh herbs like basil and thyme. Keep in mind you can always store herbs in the fridge to make them last longer. If you’re flush with greens, we recommend whipping up one of these delicious springy salads or trying a few recipes for hearty greens like spinach and kale. The sky is the limit when it comes to these fresh ingredients!
The post AeroGarden: We’re Obsessed with This High-Tech Gadget for Indoor Gardening appeared first on Taste of Home.
Sarah Farmer