AeroGarden 3 update

They're crap; don't buy one. Long story short: the air pumps wear out and can't be replaced, short of hijacking some aquarium equipment.

Giving thanks . . .

Lots to be thankful for on the urban permaculture front. A couple of those bean sprouts have actually emerged from the soil! Also, I was able to sprout some purple basil in an AG3 using a tea bag as a medium. Curious to see what the longterm results will be.

Oh the big news, I finally bought some test leads and merged Aerogarden with aquarium. It seems to be holding steady after a week. The main question is, why?

On the not-so-thankful front, the crayfish seems to be eating the basil roots. Which is ironic, considering that herb might join him in a sauté pan one day.

AeroGarden Minis on sale

First-generation AeroGarden 3's on sale at the online outlet. A steal, and should be useful to just about anyone who likes plants, cooking, or light.

I got the cilantro to sprout!

Cilantro is notoriously hard. The only other time I've got it to go was actually via aquaponics! This time I put all my remaining seeds in an AeroGarden3 and cleaned everything with ozonated water via the Tersano Lotus. After a week some mold started to appear anyway. I cleaned it up with some more Tersano juice and a couple of days later . . . voilà! Since I started with so many seeds (about 18) I might have enough to get two AG3's going . . . supplying me with tasty cilantro for my Mexican and Oriental dishes throughout the winter.

Cheating

Will bean sprouts do anything in an AeroGarden? We're about to find out. I'm starting with lentils. They are still alive after one day.

Aquaponics dry run

Well I replaced the basin on an AeroGarden 3 with a glass bowl I found at World Market for $8. With some extra tubing I was able to plop the air stone into the bowl and theorhetically create a habitable environment. I couldn't get peas to sprout in the thing, though, probably because my growing medium was a just couple of old corks. After a couple weeks I pulled the plugs; the dried up useless old peas were starting to get moldy. On the plus side, there was no algae in the bowl, and it looked pretty cool.

Continued chaos and disappointment

Long story short: the front tire on Black Bike spontaneously mended. Now the rear tire has a slow leak for some reason. I didn't even ride it anywheres. I suspect maybe the valves are disjointed or something.

The Tersano cartridges I got on eBay didn't work. They were apparently all expired. The little indicator was green, indicating they were expired. Apparently they can expire without you even using them. Fortunately, the merchant refunded my money instantly; I suspect she found them on clearance and didn't know what she was getting into.

I ordered some replacements from Amazon, hoping they of all people will sell enough to keep fresh stock. I'm also picking up a six-pack of the AeroGarden 3 salad greens, thinking I should be able to grow that stuff now that it's cooler and I have some neem oil.

Back in the saddle?

Well I reinflated the electric bike tire. I'm hoping that the sealant inside the tube will work its magic once I get it rolling again. It is virtually 100 percent complete; the only issue right now is that slow leak.

On another green-living front, my new Tersano Lotus is out of commission. It is not broken, but needs a new cartridge. It does not seem to work without the filter. Amazingly, it only took me a month to go through the first one. I have ordered a few at a price of about $4 each. I was really surprised I used it up so fast, but I have been using it often.

In some good news, a couple of my AeroGarden Mini (f/k/a AeroGarden 3) green beans have become productive denizens of this happy eco-shelter again. And a couple of cilantro and baby greens pods I started in my aquarium seem to be doing well in their new homes. And the outside herbs and peas are doing well.

It should be a pretty good year as far as the clean life goes. I won't have to buy things like terra-cotta pots again. With the sanitizer I should have more success making my own AeroGarden pods.

I am looking for a good AeroGarden medium. I have started things with green florists' stuff but I am leery . . . it is probably leaching chemicals or something. Cotton balls get moldy. Maybe I should just get some official AG plugs.

There is a hydroponics store in town but I haven't visited it yet. Their literature looks suspiciously psychedelic. Also, I should have checked the Targets after the holidays to see if any of their AeroGarden stuff was on clearance yet.

Summer storms

Like a t-storm sweeping across the plains, is the pace of change with my plant projects.

The spider mites are kicking my ass inside, at least in the AeroGardens. My regular houseplants have not been much affected. I have also had a very hard time sprouting peas in the AGs. I think the cause for all of this is that it's too hot and dry inside. I shall have to keep more ventilation going since those lights get hot.

I finally got some containers, so I was able to transplant them outside (in as much shade as possible). These are made of compressed rice husks and things and are meant to eventually decay. Saw them at World Market. Inside the pots I'm using 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 homegrown compost (it's rich and ready), and a topping of clay pellets. I planted the plants along with their AeroGarden/AG3 pods. Mental note: water the hell out of this stuff. It's been raining a lot so it should be a good time to get them outdoors.

Out of three AeroGardens, the only things I have planted now are two little, slow-growing tomato plants and one pea plant. ALL the other peas either rotted or got covered in spider mites. My two green beans are in pots outside now, since they are too big for the AGs and hopefully that will get some kind of balance on the spider mites. The AeroGardens have really disappointed of late... two of them are unplugged. Like I said, it could be the heat; it is probably mid-80'F's where they are during the day. Still, I expected more from the AG3.

On the plus side, right now I have no plants with spider mites inside. My little aquaponic experiment is looking good outside... even my chives are coming back and the six-month-old basil plant is reaching for the sky. Also, my hops plant is looking much better outside! It has branched out like I thought it would.

Status at summer solstice

I'm sorry I have been derelict in reporting on all my various ecogronomic projects. Here is an attempt to bring things current. Overall, I have had mixed success. The sum output has been much less than I expected, but there are some positive developments.

I have so many things going on I don't know where to begin. At last count I had three dozen individual plants indoors alone. Plus an equivalent on my patio.

In general the AeroGardens have not produced as expected. I have been able to get seedlings pretty easily in most cases, but getting real plants with real fruits has been elusive. I'm sure a good deal of this was from my relentless moving plants around, trying them in bottles or outside, etc. Still, I was disappointed by some kits, like the Cherry Tomato. I have only got one big plant out of it. It's important to note that I did have that bowl outside. It also grew a giant zuccini, but it lost its blossoms too.

I was disappointed by a couple of the kits. My Aerogarden 3's Green Bean kit (out of three seed pods) produced two leggy plants that got so tall I moved them to an AeroGarden Classic. Also, the Baby Greens are gone, daddy, gone. They don't like to be above 78'F and I think my air conditioner may have dried them out. They ended up getting covered with some kind of little red plant mites.

So, the theme for the last couple of months has been disappointment, be it self-induced or not. To have four AeroGardens going and an empty salad bowl is a little discouraging, and I have spent around $50 on seed kits alone. My little cherry tomato plant looks like shit. It had some blooms but it lost them. I dumped out all the old water and started anew in an attempt to revive. Right now it is parked in a Classic AeroGarden with just the two leggy Green Bean AG3 refugees. My last remaining hops plant is hanging on, beginning to branch out, but it's still just a sad little diseased looking twig. The little coffee plant I got on eBay has some leaves but it is an unhealthy yellowy shade of green. These last two, parked outside.

My pride and joy is my little lemon tree. I think I got this thing started earlier than the rest. It has about eight fruits on it and they are larger than limes. Also, one of my several poblano pepper plants is looking like something after I moved it to get a lot more shade during the day. It has been so hard getting stuff going on that baking (115'F) patio, but the lemon tree is full sun all day. The key is, use oversized pots and get stuff established early in the season.

My aquaponics experiment is going, though I downsized it. Now it's basically a styrofoam cooler with a raft on top holding some AeroGarden refugees. The basil is alive, after all the abuse it's been through in the past six months (I planted it around Christmas).

I also have a purple basil in the window in a vase, and a cutting from it is finally establishing itself in a pot on the patio.

Dis-Mayed

Suddenly it's June 1... May was filled with joyous events but before you know it, it's gone.

How are things im mein garten? Alles klar, Herr Kommissar? Well not really. It has been getting into the 100'F's on my porch, and the heat is really getting to my less-established plants.

My hops plant was not doing so good after I pruned it, attempting to get another one going with the pruning. It is leggy and some of the leaves at the bottom are yellow and covered in spider mites. I brought it inside under a grow light in case the heat was a factor, but I really have no idea what is going on or how to fix it. I might have been keeping it too moist. There is some brown on the tips of some of the leaves, which is usually a sign of dryness.

Some things are positively thriving outside. My lemon tree is going bananas, so to speak. It even has a few new blossoms! The little lemons are about half the size of ping pong balls, larger than marbles. They all look healthy. I have been watering the crap out of it. Ditto for my strawberry plant: it doesn't have any flowers or fruits, but is putting out a runner.

I have some new additions to the fambly. I started another AeroGarden 3 with green beans. These sprouted in just two days---not the six to eight days the label indicates. I'm taking that as a good sign. I would really like to get some protein into the urban homesteading equation, hence the legumes. The only other way I know to do this is grow mushrooms or raise chickens or something. I will be on the lookout in case a chicken falls off the 10:50 a.m. chicken truck that passes my house.

I have been having mixed results with my AeroGarden Classics. One of them has evolved into a sophisticated, successful, and diversified mini-garden with a magnificent cherry tomato tree (it looks more bonsai than bush), parsley (planted at Christmas (!), it's been thriving since I removed the basil), a couple of newly planted snow peas (no sprouts after two days), and a very precocious zuccini I grew from my own Burpee seed. The first zuccini I transplanted outside in a little pot got flowers but then it got burnt by the sun or perhaps excessive nutrients from the fish water. However, my newer zuccini plantings have been really taking off. I have been able to get them started quite easily just by placing them in some foam at the top of a water-filled bottle. It's that easy. I have a couple of plants floating on top of the fish vat outside, but the one in the AeroGarden is outgrowing all the others.

Speed blogging à la gwadzilla

urban homesteading
the gardens are looking a lot better
but it's a lot of work
labor intensive
life on a farm

the aerogarden 3 lacks (sorry but it does)

Hydroton is da bomb (thanks Red Icculus)

baby praying mantises on my mini purple peppers

nature on my side for once

first crop of coffee compost rich thick and sludgy
food for future poblanos
food for fridrix

A day in the sun

I put the original AeroGarden and the AeroGarden 3 out in the sun today for several hours. I didn't kill anything. Temps got into the mid-80s'F, and I thought it would be too hot for my vulnerable baby greens AG. While the pump was no longer circulating water over the roots, I expected them to stay moist since the tank was enclosed.

Here are the AGs with some of my seedlings and other projects. The AG is in the center with the flower. Front left are some poblano pepper plants; the one I put in the terra cotta pot has been flopped over for a couple of days but seems OK otherwise.

The original AG in the back has the original herbs kit in the middle, and the corners have tomato plants---the seedling on the left is from the cherry tomato kit; the colossus on the right is my Burpee BigBoy freak. On top of the AG on the left, you can see I have started making my own seedling cups out of newsprint, thanks to a tool recently given to me by my bro.

Crisis and BIG BIG NEWS

The "Add Nutrient" light on the AG3. I think it is just a matter of adding a pill.

I have big news. Hops seed #22 actually sprouted! It is a wild, hairy little thing. This was one I preconditioned in the fridge for six weeks like the directions said.

In other news, the tomatoes are doing great, and the nearby coffee shop is giving me all their grounds. Much future growth forecasted.

Precocious plant

The Mountain Meadow pods are supposed to sprout in 4 to 10 days (it sounds like they are hedging their bets, doesn't it?). The calendula was ahead of schedule, making its debut on the third day. It's definitely the alpha plant here.

We have ignition

Turn it on and wait. Again I am struck by how pleasant the cool white light is.

Meet the meadow

I opted for the "Mountain Meadow" pods. I put the yellow one in the front.

Meet the Aerogarden 3

I am way behind on postings for the newest member of the Aerogarden family, the Aerogarden 3!

It is supposed to have about the same footprint as a coffee maker, and that seems about right. It will even fit under my kitchen cabinets, that were too low for the original AG.