I set up an AeroGarden Harvest Elite self contained indoor gardening system here at the house just after Christmas. I put it in our office at first, which is the room across the hall from our bedroom, but it’s light was on all night long and kept me awake. Maybe it’s just these old eyes of mine, but that light is really bright. For growing herbs (versus vegetables), AeroGarden suggests that the light remain on for 17 hours a day. I eventually figured out how to set the light to come on at 5am and go off at 10pm, but by then I’d relocated the AeroGarden twice trying to get it’s light further from the bedroom. It’s in the kitchen area now where it’s light is barely noticeable from our bedroom.
The AeroGarden came with 6 different seed pods — banquet curly parsley, Genovese basil, German winter thyme, peppermint mint, superdukat dill, and Thai basil — and I started all of them.
As expected, nothing much happened for the first 10-12 days. Then the dill sprouted and started to grow.
I’m pretty sure the Genovese basil sprouted around the same time, but it’s initial growth was hidden underneath the top of the seed pod container. I assumed it would eventually grow through the top opening and join the dill, but it didn’t. I got out my scissors and cut a larger hole in the top of the seed pod container (see photo below), which seems to have helped.
And that’s how it’s gone so far. I’m looking forward to a kitchen full of fresh herbs in the coming weeks and will post more about my AeroGarden herbs as they continue to grow.