Aerogarden - anyone ever use this?

[alm99]

I have two of them. One growing herbs and the other has lettuce. Got a great deal off buy.com and off of craigslist. It works great, but on my next grow round I will focus on the herbs I use on a routine basis. I planted a few herbs just to see how they grow and everything came up in abundance.

 

[sandorski]

I have one, I'm not really all that crazy about it though. I guess I need to cook more, because I never used half the stuff it grew. Started with the herb kit - I did use the basil a good number of times. The chives never really grew very well. The thyme was ok, but never really cooked with it, so it mostly just sat there. The basil grew the best.

Then I tried the salad green kit. That one worked ok, though it never made enough lettuce really for a full salad, but was decent for picking off a couple leaves for sandwiches and stuff. I tended not to use it fast enough though, and once it gets long the taste got kind of bitter.

Next I want to try the green bean kit... though I know already I'm gonna complain it doesn't make enough green beans to make it worthwhile, yet at the same time I'll never get around to harvesting them.

That would be the thing though, finding what makes practical sense to bother growing. Fresh herbs seems to likely be the best for such a setup, Beans and Tomatoes are nice and all, but volume becomes an issue. Hot Peppers should be practical, especially if you go with a smaller variety.

I have actually considered getting 2 or more and using 1 to grow flowers as I like the smell of certain flowers, but then it just becomes an expense with no possible Return. Which raises another issue, is this a practical way to $Save. I suspect not once you factor in Initial Cost plus ongoing Costs of Electricity, Seed Pods, and other inputs. So it really comes down to a few considerations:

1) Plants to clean Air
2) Decoration
3) Convenience of Supply
4) Possible availability of something difficult to Buy. Not much of a problem for those of us in Cities, but even then some things may require extra Distance, Time, etc to acquire that can be grown in the Aerogarden.
5) Family Fun! picture of unnaturally happy family staring with great enthusiasm at Aerogarden full of plants

 

[Marinski]

whos growin the sticky icky??

 

[spidey07]

whos growin the sticky icky??

It's too small to get much if any flower production.

 

[deadlyapp]

You can grow them short.

Yeah but that light is useless. If you want anything productive you go with a pretty high value CFL setup or HPS.

and i'm not talking height, i'm talking stem. Look at the openings in that thing. A solid stem will be almost an inch in diameter.