Herb Garden

[Darryl - swazies]

Not the real good herbs...........man.......
I was gifted this by the wife........this hydroponic garden at Christmas. You can do herbs, vegetables or flowers apparently.
It works pretty slick, takes all the guessing out....automatic timers for the day and the biweekly cycles.
Basically it’s dumbed down to very limited labour, I can answer any questions regarding its operation.
So this pic is 20 days in and I have went with all herbs. This model does 6 at a time.
Different herbs sprout and grow at different rates obviously.
Does anyone have one of these or something similar?
The plant on the far right is basil and I am making a nice dinner tonight the wife will enjoy and wanted to use a couple sprigs of fresh basil to finish it off........my question is for you growers, is the one one the end big enough to snip the 2 big leaves off of it withou any harm?
I am new to growing still, don't want to kill it if it’s still too small.

 

[Pat G]

Yes, you can trim some basil off without hurting the plant.

I looked into the one of those but decided that we had much more room on the patio and went with this cedar planter. This was the first go round, with some cherry tomatos and peppers. After that harvest we put basil, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage and oregeno in it. We will be replanting in the spring due to the current freezing temps we have had in SE Texas, something you don't have to worry about with your system. I bet it smells good too.

 

[DanHoo]

You can cut the basil taking the big 4 to 6 leaves and it will just grow more. Cut the main stem.

 

[Rich G]

Hey, Darryl, I posted a little ways back about the one I'm using to get my seeds started this year. I'll move everything outdoors for the most part, but plan to keep some plants (probably herbs, maybe peppers) going inside, too. Here's mine as of a week ago with mostly peppers that have been going a couple of weeks or so. The two in the front right are both basil (two seeds in each pod.)



When I harvest basil, I try to take leaves from above a "Y" in the plant. This will help train the plant to be a bit bushier, as it will grow out from there rather than up.

Your garden is looking good!

Rich

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I know the idea is to trim it and use it, the manual said to never trim more than 1/3 if I remember right........I was just worried it was too young still.
It’s about 4 niches tall......I think I will cut a couple off tonight.
Thanks for the tips.
Btw....not too much smell yet. Everything is very tiny but I have dill, mint, thyme, parsley and 2 basil’s going in it now, it says it should grow about 6 months.
Might start an outside grow on the warm months and use this over the winter.
We were going to grow veggies this year anyways.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Thanks Rich, my only other concern was how to trim....I have grown some ahhhh...uuuuhhm...plants before and didn’t know if it would work like that does....

 

[Lynn Dollar]

I don't do hydroponics ........but I plant herbs in my vegetable garden. And there's a big diff between fresh garden grown herbs and what I can buy at the store. Cilantro has amazingly more flavor. The aroma of basil will fill the garden. I'm also growing garlic, but its not as easy to tell from store bought, but I think that has more to do with how its used.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

The start of tonight’s dinner.......tenderloin and bone in rib.
Black angus triple A
The tenderloin is for the MRS

 

[Rich Dahl]

Barb and I have our herb garden on the front patio in very large pots and planters. we plant parsley both flat leaf and curly, thyme, rosemary, oregano, cilantro and basil.
In the summer the basil plant gets to be about 3 ft high and 3 ft wide, we supply the whole street with basil I just tell the neighbors to come and get what they want anytime. They know if you come through the gate when the pups are out front, they run the risk of getting licked to death or severely beaten by wagging tails.
You can't kill the basil until the first frost does it for you.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Awesome, take what you need not what you can carry is a good method.
I have both of those parsley’s on the go too.
I wanted rosemary and oregano too but they were not available at this time.
Hopefully update later with dinner pics.
The steaks above with gnocchi.....homemade Parmesan cream sauce with sautéed mushrooms and spinach.
I was going to do crisped baguette with crushed fermented garlic and a dill pickle salad but we started on the cocktails already and I know how we eat after a half dozen of them.....limited......
So gnocchi and steak it is....it will still look pretty just not overly fancy.

 

[Jason Godard]

Looks pretty good to me, I’m interested in an indoor setup, so keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

The brand name is AeroGarden.......they have an online presence with options.They have set packages at good prices it seems. Guaranteed sprout or free replaced pods with covers.
It grows or they replace it.....and it sounds like you need to only purchase 2 times per year.
So for my setup about 40 bones per year all guaranteed to grow....LED lights so cheap on the bills....
They have bigger setups but for $$ to number of plants the 6 plant setup seems the best priced for what you get.
The main unit sells at Costco for sure.
Replacement pods and pod kits are great and 20 bucks Canadian.
20 but for 6 months if it plays out like that sounds fair to me.

 

[Scott Smith]

I don't do hydroponics ........but I plant herbs in my vegetable garden. And there's a big diff between fresh garden grown herbs and what I can buy at the store. Cilantro has amazingly more flavor. The aroma of basil will fill the garden. I'm also growing garlic, but its not as easy to tell from store bought, but I think that has more to do with how its used.

Garlic is a different animal. A lot of my fresh store garlic actually comes from China. Home growers can choose from many different varieties of garlic. Anyhow, I live in NJ and whatever garlic you grow will all harvest at the same time. It is a very seasonal thing here. People dry it and make braids and whatnot.

There is a garlic festival in the Poconos where you can buy different seed cloves.

 

[Rich G]

Looks pretty good to me, I’m interested in an indoor setup, so keep us posted on your progress.

As an alternate to the Aerogarden, my unit is made by IDOO. I picked it up at Amazon for $75 with a coupon. With 12 pods, it has more space, though the wattage on the lights is lower. I haven't had any issues with it thus far, though I'm only a month in with it. Hopefully, it lasts a while.... I also picked up a cheap, 2 LED light set so I could move some of my seedlings into dirt (double-solo cup method) and make more room in the IDOO. Working well so far....

 

[Tony-Chicago]

I don't do hydroponics ........but I plant herbs in my vegetable garden. And there's a big diff between fresh garden grown herbs and what I can buy at the store. Cilantro has amazingly more flavor. The aroma of basil will fill the garden. I'm also growing garlic, but its not as easy to tell from store bought, but I think that has more to do with how its used.

I remember last year when you had your first tomatoes. Way before we had even planted ours. Let me know when your tomatoes ... around here we cannot plant until mothers day. And frost can still get you.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

I remember last year when you had your first tomatoes. Way before we had even planted ours. Let me know when your tomatoes ... around here we cannot plant until mothers day. And frost can still get you.

I will be planting seed next weekend. But they won't go outside in the ground, until the first week of April.

 

[Tony-Chicago]

The same time I will be scraping snow

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Same here Tony.....about as far north as you. It’s darn cold right now and there is no outside fun for a while.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Rich, you are a lot more committed than myself. I only have the one setup going, no solo cups no extra lights ect.
It looks good btw, I would say you have a bit more free time than myself,

I did get a snap of last nights dinner, they look exactly like I thought they should, nothing special but it was pretty tasty.
Hers and mine, I snipped 1 piece of fresh herb per plate, just to get started with it.

 

[Jim Lampe]

We’ve had been using these for years