I did indeed get an AeroGarden for Christmas, which was what I most wanted after world peace, solid polar ice caps, an end to world hunger and pestilence, and new swimwear.
It sat in the box for several days on my counter because it was a promise of life and success and greenery, and I’d rather live in that fantasy than set it up and watch the dashing of my herbal hopes.
Eventually I summoned courage to face the unknown and opened the box. And the result was this adorably cute little guy on my counter, with a timed grow light, buttons that light up to tell me when to water and add the included fertilizer, and six herb pods with little hats!
It has a system of six little fountains inside that run for five minutes every half hour to water the pods.
Ada said if it doesn’t work at least it’ll be the cutest failure ever.
As a review, here’s the other side of my kitchen, so you recall what level of skill I’m bringing to the table.
I like to establish a low bar for success.
Day 5: Genovese basil has sprouted! Much excitement ensues.
Day 7: Dill has sprouted and pulled ahead of basil!
Day 11: Everything has sprouted. Dill graduated to taking its little hat off. I move it to basil since I was one hat short. Daily excitement continues.
Day 12: I take off basil’s little hat because he’s getting so big.
Day 21: After returning from a weekend away, in which my grow light continued to shine for exactly 15 hours a day and my little plants continued to water and fertilize themselves, my herbs are so robust that I actually prune them to add flavor to the soup I’m making.
Did this leave me with nothing? Wait for it…
No! My seedlings have turned into little plants!
Day 23: Dill is so gangbusters that I trim some not for the vital job of feeding my family, but for the relatively unimportant task of garnishing our date night plates. And I have to raise the grow light to accommodate their height.
So, at the very least, the AeroGarden has given me a flavorful soup, a classy date night, and three weeks of pleasure and excitement.
I was curious what other kinds of pods they have (answer: tons) so I went to the AeroGarden website, and oh my. I may have lost my mind a little bit. They come in ALL sizes, from itty bitty little 3-pod versions to giant, stackable gardens that can grow 3-foot-high plants and feed your whole neighborhood.
So if this continues to work, I could have a long trail ahead of successfully faking a green thumb. Who would’ve guessed all it would take is premeasured sunlight, water, fertilizer, a bright red light that tells me when to do something, and total and utter automation of all ecological processes.
No comments:
Post a Comment