AeroGarden Official Blog

We have added a Boulder class!!   See details below.

AeroGrow is announcing September 1st as National Indoor Gardening Day to celebrate the transition between the summer, outdoor gardening season and the winter, indoor gardening season. AeroGrow is co-sponsoring this day with the National Gardening Association. The day involves offering free 1 hour classes in 5 cities across the U.S. about how to both bring your outdoor garden indoors, how to continue growing fresh produce indoors, and how to start your outdoor garden indoors in the spring. Classes are taught by experienced AeroGrow employees who know a thing or two about indoor gardening. And, we are going to be giving away 3 AeroGardens at each class – including our new, full-sized VeggiePro.

Class locations and details are as follows:
City     Location     Time
Anchorage, AK     Consortium Library     6:00p - 7:00p
Burlington, VT     Gardener’s Supply Company     6:30p - 7:30p
Chicago, IL     Chicago Center for Green Technology     6:00p - 7:00p
Denver, CO     Denver Botanic Gardens     6:30p - 7:30p
Philadelphia, PA     Bartram’s Garden     5:30p - 6:30p
Boulder, CO     AeroGrow International, Inc.
Corporate Headquarters     12:00p - 1:00p

All classes are offered on Tuesday, September 1st 2009 and are FREE. No pre-registration is required.

If you cannot attend any of these classes, a video of the class will be made available on September 2nd at www.aerogrow.com.

For more information contact:
Sara Sisenwein
Marketing Manager
AeroGrow International, Inc.
sara@aerogrow.com
(303) 953-6227

This past Mother’s Day we gave away 100 AeroGardens with Gourmet Herb seed kits for Mother’s Day.  We thought we would share one of the winners and their entry for their mom to win an AeroGarden.  Looks like all the herbs are flourishing…

To whom it may concern:
I just wanted everybody to know that my mom deserves an aerogarden.  She is the best mother anyone could have.  She’s my best friend and I wish I could afford to do more for her.  My mom just got laid off from her job of 15 years and she never saw it coming.  She’s a recipe developer so I know for a fact she would love an aerogarden.  She’s always admiring mine and I wish I could get her one.  Please consider my mom for this contest.  She deserves it!!!
Thank you,
Kristen Stuebner

We hope all the Mom’s that won an AeroGarden this Mother’s Day are enjoying their AeroGardens.

Tip of the Week:  How to Do a Rinse-and-Refill

A Rinse-and-Refill is called for in situations where the nutrient concentration in the Bowl may have become too strong. This may occur if the source water used has a higher than average dissolved mineral content, or if the Seed Kit being grown has been growing a long time. Symptoms of a too-high nutrient concentration are yellowing leaves or browning and death of leaf edges.

The easiest way to do a Rinse-and-Refill is as follows:
1) Unplug the AeroGarden.
2) Remove the Bowl from the Base.
3) Pour or siphon all the water/nutrient solution out of the Bowl as follows:

If your plants are still small and without much root mass, you can generally just lift the Bowl off the Base, open the view door at the front, and carefully pour all the water out into a sink.

If your plants have grown larger and have a lot of root mass, lifting the Grow Surface with all the mature plants in it may be impractical, and it is easier to siphon the water out of the Bowl down into a sink or a bucket. Small plastic siphons are available at most hardware stores.

Note: Do not use the water from the Bowl on houseplants - the solution may be too concentrated for them.

4) Replace the Grow Surface into the Bowl (if you removed it).
5) Fill the Bowl with fresh water up to the “Fill to Here” mark.
6) Drop in two new nutrient tablets.

7) Replace the Bowl back into the Base. (Whenever you do this, make sure to lower the Bowl down onto the Base so that you do not damage the Pump contacts on the front of the Lamp Arm.)

8 ) Plug the AeroGarden back in.
9) Briefly press the Reset button. (This will reset the nutrient timer to be in synch with your new feeding date).

Tip 1: Thinning out

When you plant your Garden Starter Tray we recommend planting multiple seeds in each BioCell to ensure germination.  This often results in more than one plant growing in a BioCell.  So to ensure success, it’s important to thin out the BioCell down to one plant so the seedling can thrive.

Once the seedlings have reached 1-2 inches tall, use a scissors and gently snip the smallest plants at the base of the stem, leaving only one healthy plant in the BioCell.  This process of thinning out ensures that the remaining plant in each BioCell has enough room to grow and gets ample amounts of nutrients, light and water to remain healthy and thrive.

Tip 2: Give me some room…

There are some plants that can act like the bully.  For example, green beans and cucumbers tend to take up more room, and can bully your basil.  If you’re noticing overgrowth of certain seedlings and seeing that other seedlings are suffering, it’s best to take those bully seedlings out of the garden starter tray and replant into pots.  This starts the big seedlings on their way outdoors, and gives all your seedlings a better chance at prospering.

Tip 3: Hardening off

Once your soil is prepared and your seedlings are grown it’s time to harden off and transplant your seedlings to your outdoor garden.

Hardening off seedling eases their transition from the AeroGarden into the outdoors, where they will be exposed to sunlight, temperature variations and wind. It entails slowly increasing the amount of time your seedlings spend outside while still in the comfort of the AeroGarden.  Hardening off is easy with the AeroGarden and the Garden Starter Tray – just lift the bowl out of the base and take the entire thing outside.  Allow 1-2 weeks for hardening off.

For a hardening off schedule click the link below and scroll down to page 14 of the Garden Starter Tray guide.

http://tinyurl.com/b4qgkb