AeroGarden Official Blog

We are announcing that September 1st has become the official National Indoor Gardening Day.  We developed the day to celebrate the transition between the summer, outdoor gardening season and the winter, indoor gardening season.  We are 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 our experienced employees who know and thing or two about indoor gardening.  And, we are going to be giving away 3 AeroGardens at each class - including our new VeggiePro which is our new product designed to grow full-sized vegetables.

Class locations and details are as follows:
City                                  Location                                                                 Time
Anchorage, AK          Consortium Library                                           6p-7p
Burlington, VT            Gardener’s Supply Company                         630p-730p
Chicago, IL                   Chicago Center for Green Technology      6p-7p
Denver, CO                   Denver Botanic Gardens                                 630p-730p
Philadelphia, PA        Bartram’s Garden                                               530p-630p

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 shoot me an e-mail
sara@aerogrow.com

AeroGarden on Big Brother 11

It was just announced that Big Brother 11 will return this summer to CBS.  CBS has been releasing pictures of the house, one of which includes the AeroGarden and its prominent display in the kitchen.  Check it out…

Keeping with the theme of “Going Green,” this season the residents of the Big Brother house will have an AeroGarden to enjoy. The 7-Pod AeroGarden is prominently displayed in the kitchen, which also includes other environmentally friendly items such as compost machines and recycling bins. The housemates will be able to include fresh herbs in their cooking while they are confined inside the house for the duration of the season for the first time.

Another Growing Mom winner sent us a picture of her growing herb garden.  Below is the winning submission and picture.  We hope all you Mom’s and Dad’s that won AeroGardens are enjoying them.

Hi Aero Gardeners,
What a lovely idea to gift the moms!  I hope my mother can be one of the recipients.  My mom, Frankie is 94 1/2 years old and she lives with my 95 year old Dad in an Assisted Living facility here in Santa Fe, NM.  They are both remarkable people, full of sparkle and joie de vivre.  If you met my mom you would never guess her age!  The sad thing is that my mother grew up on a farm in Connecticut and growing things is in her blood.  My parents have always lived in homes with gardens into which she could pour her love and skills, until last year when on April 7th
2008 my Dad fell and broke his hip.  Amazingly, he recovered, but slowly, and is now wheelchair bound.  That forced the unhappy move to Assisted Living, where there is no place to garden.  Sure, we can bring my Mom cut flowers, or a potted plant, but it is just not the same as her getting to grow her own garden from scratch.  As an avid AeroGrow fan, I know this would be the perfect solution.  She would have the joy of seeing flowers grow from seeds, or vegetables, or herbs, and with only the most minimal of demands, she could garden again.  The aerogarden is perfect for the physical and mental limitations of a 94 1/2 year old gardener because it is so fool proof.  Lights go on and tell you just what to do when.  And it will take up only a tiny bit of space in her small room.  I hope you will consider my mom as a person who would really love and appreciate her own aerogarden.  Please feel free to contact me if there is anything else you would like to know.  I am attaching a picture of my Mom and Dad on their 65th anniversary so that you can see for yourselves how delightful they are.
Thank you for your consideration,
Michele Hermann Santa Fe, NM

Send us your pictures and they may get posted on the blog.

Tip of the week:  Pruning Tomatoes That Have Grown Up Into the Lights

When tomatoes are grown outdoors, there is usually no need to prune them, and so it may be an unfamiliar process to many gardeners. Tomatoes grown in the AeroGarden, however, must be pruned regularly to keep them small and compact. It may be helpful to think of “bonsai”, the Japanese art of pruning to shape plants into robust miniatures.

It is entirely possible to reclaim tall, leggy tomatoes, but they will take a bit longer to produce fruit than if pruned enough when small.

Recently we launched our Growing KidsTM school enrichment donation program.  Our mission is to help educate and enrich the lives of children and teachers by promoting the love of gardening, encouraging healthy eating habits and connecting with the community through the use of AeroGardens.

We started this pilot program here in Boulder, CO where we partnered with two elementary schools and donated each of their classrooms with an AeroGarden and salad greens seed kits.  It was our hope that the schools use the AeroGardens to enrich/enhance the study of life sciences in the classroom.

So far the program has been extremely successful.  All grade levels are using the AeroGarden in interesting ways.

• Kindergarten is using it to start the discussion on seed and their growth.  Also comes in handy during snack time
• First Graders are using it to draw and use descriptive words to explain the changes occurring with the AeroGarden
• Fifth graders and learning about the evolution of plants and trying to get the salad to return to seed.

Here are some pictures of AeroGardens in the classroom.

We are very excited about this program as the schools can’t wait till the fall as they plan to grow cherry tomatoes, peppers and herbs.

Well it looks like we will be making 100 Mom’s very happy with our Growing Mom’s Giveaway.  So why not give away another 100 AeroGardens to 100 lucky Dad’s for Father’s Day.  We are officially announcing the kick-off of our Growing Dad’s Giveaway where we will be giving away 100 free AeroGardens in time for Father’s Day.

This giveaway is a continuation of our Recession Gardening Campaign, which encourages people to save money by growing their own herbs and vegetables at home.

The AeroGarden provides many advantages.

• Starting an indoor garden gives a sense of pride and accomplishment by growing your own herbs and vegetables.
• Time to reconnect with your Dad.  Set time aside every day with your Dad to check the progress and harvest together.
• If your Dad is anything like mine, the AeroGarden will get him to take a break from watching The Weather Channel.

To enter the Father’s Day Giveaway, send an email to dads@aerogrow.com explaining why your Dad deserves an AeroGarden. Or go to www.aerogrow.com and click on Growing Dad’s Giveaway. Entries must be submitted by May 29, 2009. One hundred lucky Dads will receive AeroGardens in time for Father’s Day, 2009.

So hurry up and enter!

What better way to celebrate Mother’s day than with an AeroGarden.  In honor of the holiday, we have devised the Growing Mom’s Giveaway where we are going to be giving away (yes that means free) 100 AeroGardens to 100 lucky mom’s in time for Mother’s day.

The giveaway is part of our Recession Gardening Campaign, which encourages people to save money by growing their own herbs and vegetables at home.  While First Mom, Michelle Obama, and the first lady of California, Maria Shriver, are leading the way by planting veggie gardens in their “backyards”, overall, gardening is gaining interest in the U.S., according to a new survey from the National Gardening Association. In fact, the number of Americans who plan to plant a garden this year has increased by 19%, with 21% of them brand new to gardening. While the recession is clearly the main driver – with 62% of gardeners saying the recession is motivating them – there are other factors at work.  About 58% say they just want better tasting food, 54% want to lower food bills, 51% want better quality food and 48% want to know that their produce is safe.  All fine and dandy when the weather is hospitable, or if you have land to garden in, or a strong back, but what about those who don’t?  That’s where the AeroGarden comes in!

To enter the Mother’s Day Giveaway, send an email to moms@aerogrow.com explaining why your Mom deserves an AeroGarden. Or go to www.aerogrow.com and click on Growing Mom’s Giveaway. Entries must be submitted by April 17, 2009. One hundred lucky Moms will receive AeroGardens in time for Mother’s Day, 2009.

So hurry up and enter!

Sylvia