March 25, 2006 (Day1)

We planted the Salad Greens today.  The lamp went on at around 2 PM, and we shut it off 11 PM. AeroGrow offers a simple way to set when lights come on and off: you reset the lighting at the time you want the lights to go off. We decided our hydroponic "lights out" would be from 11pm to 7am (the cycle is 16 hours on, 8 hours off). The two full-spectrum lights are very, very, very bright.

We could see a little bit of condensation on the inside of the clear dome of the seed pods.  On thing to note is that the pump which circulates the water through the pods runs continuously when the setting is on "Salad Greens" ... which may be a problem if you live in a studio apartment, but it is very quiet overall. If you are puttering around making tea, feeding the cat, or just creating the normal noise of your day, you probably won't notice it, but we still haven't determined how "loud" it is when everything else is silent.

March 27, 2006 (Day3)

We could see a tiny little sprout in one of the pods! Ceasar's salad for EVERYONE :-)

March 28, 2006 (Day4)

Five of the seven pods have sprouted.  Some of the sprouts even have leaves!

March 29, 2006 (Day5)

We are happy to report that ALL seven of the pods have something growing in them!  Many of the pods have multiple sprouts. Some have poked out beyond their paper cover.

March 30, 2006 (Day6)

The sprouts are all starting to make a strong push out now.  The instructions states that multiple plants can be supported in each pod so no thinning is necessary.

March 31, 2006 (Day7)

The AeroGarden is growing great.  All of the pods have vigorous growth.  The color of the leaves is a nice rich green.  We are very impressed with the progress.  We are equally impressed with the total lack of maintenance required to get to this point!  This is a well thought out system.  We see a lot of potential to Aerogrow and their "appliance" approach to gardening.

Hydroponic gardening has been around for a long time.  Techniques and systems for growing plants in soil-less environments have been successfully created by amateur and professionals alike.

While the concepts and equipment necessary for a hydroponic garden is pretty simple to set up, it is often quite industrial looking and definitely not something one would want in the kitchen.

AeroGrow has created a system that is both simple and attractive. The photo below is the start of the project.

The AeorGarden was quick to assemble, easy to plant, and looks great anywhere in the house.  The photo below is the end of Week 2.

We will track the progress of the growth of the garden from planting (March 25th) to harvest.  We'll post the updates and photos every Saturday.  The photo below is the end of Week 3.

Here we are at the end of Week 4 and the crop is very vigorous.  We have been eating bits from it for a week now.

Reviews:

1. Assembly

2. Planting

3. Updates - this week

         Week 1: March 25 - March 31

         Week 2: April 1 - April 7

         Week 3: April 8 - April 16

         Week 4: April 17 - April 23

Assembly Summary:

1. Difficulty - easy

2. Time - 10 minutes

3. Tools - none

Planting Summary:

1. Difficulty - easy

2. Time - 5 minutes

3. Tools - none

Maintenance Summary:

1. Difficulty - easy

2. Time - 1 minutes

3. Tools - none