Posts Tagged ‘AeroGarden’
Indoor garden
My harvest of romaine lettuce from my AeroGarden today. Poppy seed dressing and lunch is served!
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All my best
Jane
herb growing in winter #5: tomatoes and lettuce
Since my last AeroGarden update, I have baby tomatoes and leaves of romaine lettuce in my garden.
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In a couple of weeks, I’ll have enough basil, lettuce and Tiny Tim tomatoes for a salad … if I can stop my ongoing snacking!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
herb growing in winter #4
The identity of the odd plant in my AeroGarden is no longer a secret!
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What is the plant on the right hand side of my garden?
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The plant in question is the bushy ‘herb’ to the right. It has dark green leaves and a thick stem.
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As you know, I am a botanist and if this plant was presented to me in any other way, I am sure I would have identified it immediately.
But the label said ‘mint’ and so I expected mint.
My first suggestion of mistaken identity came when I popped a few of the young leaves into my tea. The taste was terrible.
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Then I took a closer look. The stem was not square – an immediate identifier of the whole mint family.
So I went back to the package material. Possibly I switched the labels. Perhaps it was curly parsley. Deep frown. Didn’t look like curly parsley.
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All this time, I kept pruning and drying the leaves. My bottle of dried mystery leaves is quite full!
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What is it?
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Then I saw the flowers and took a step back. They were yellow and clustered. The leaves were compound, very hairy. The light came on! Tomato!
You will think I am a terrible botanist!
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So now I am waiting for my first tomatoes. I have discarded the dried leaves (tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family and the leaves contain a poisonous alkaloid).
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the unopened ‘flowers’ of my tomato plant (the hairy green buds) … in a few days I will have baby tomatoes!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
herb growing in winter #3
My AeroGarden guide says “don’t be afraid to prune.” Me, I love to prune. I must be doing it correctly since I am getting a small harvest every day or two!
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My plants are Basil, Tai Basil, Genovese Basil, unknown (labelled ‘Curly Parsley’ but definitely not), Thyme (hardly growing but trying) and Romaine Lettuce (planted last week).
I chop the leaves as I prune them and they are crisp enough to crumble in a couple of days.
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Photos of my ‘harvest’ …
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my garden after today’s pruning … gro-light makes a good photo difficult
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my ‘harvest … lots of leaves make a small amount of dried herb …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
herb growing in winter #2
A while ago, I told you I was starting an AeroGarden. The garden grows plants in ‘pods’, with addition of light, water and nutrients. After 54 days, my garden is growing mint and two kinds of basil in profusion. Two of the plants, thyme and another type of basil, are very slow, but growing and healthy. A fifth pod got mold and never grew.
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Every three days, I prune about one third of the growth. I remove the leaves, cut them into smaller pieces with scissors and spread them to dry on parchment paper. Our house is very dry and in 24 hours I can crumble the dry leaves and add them to my growing store of herbs.
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Basil is one of my favourite herbs, so I am very pleased with my AeroGarden.
It uses lots of water so I have to remember to add water every day. A little screen tells me how long the pods have been growing and when to add nutrients. Otherwise, as a garden it is trouble-free – no weeds, so I am happy!
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Copyright 2018 Jane Tims
herb growing in winter
For Christmas, my husband bought me an Aerogarden – a way to grow herbs and other plants hydroponically. My garden has been set up for 19 days and has five plant pods underway – two basil, one parsley, one mint and one thyme. The sixth pod is having some troubles but is now replanted with more basil. I will keep you up to date on my garden’s progress!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
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