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By JEFF LOWENFELS Published: October 11, 2007
Last Modified: October 11, 2007 at 02:38 AM OK, you know my concern. We Alaskans spend tremendous amounts of money, time and energy gardening during our short, three- to four-month outdoor gardening season. However, too many abandon horticulture altogether during the other eight to nine months of the year. This is simply not acceptable. Ah, the experienced reader already recognizes this as one of my appeals to get 49ers to set up some sort of supplemental lighting system to carry at least their houseplants through the winter. Be it a simple, two-bulb fluorescent shop fixture or a much more expensive setup, every Alaska gardener’s home needs to be equipped to continue the state’s most popular hobby throughout the long, cold winter. I am not going to list the various lighting systems you should consider, though I do encourage you to check out the ever-improving “T5” fluorescent systems. Suffice to say, these extremely thin lights are specially designed for indoor plant growing and fit in a variety of locations. Instead, I want to come back to a relatively new product that I wrote about last holiday season, the AeroGarden. This is an ingenious, fully self-contained, indoor gardening system that is about the same size as your toaster oven and, like a toaster, belongs in every kitchen in Alaska. The item proved so popular last year that the entire supply sold out the week my column ran. Now, however, we are not limited to mail-order purchases. AeroGardens are available locally at Bell’s Nursery and Alaska Mill and Feed. I spoke with representatives from the company at a recent conference, and they are ready for massive purchases from Alaska. Folks, if you have ever trusted me to your satisfaction (and even surprise), now is the time to do it again. Get an AeroGarden. It will enable you to grow and eat fresh veggies, herbs and fruits with harvests starting 28 days after planting with no bugs, no weeds and no pesticides. All you have to do is decide which of the company’s seed kits you wish to grow, insert the plugs in the AeroGarden, add water and set a dial. Other than occasionally filling the system with a cup or two of water, there’s nothing to it. The AeroGarden can accomplish all of this because it employs a hydroponics technology known as aeroponics. No soil is used in the AeroGarden. Nutrient-rich water is automatically sprayed on the roots of the plants grown in the system. The material in the seed kit does all the work keeping the pH at the right level and feeding the roots. Oh-oh, I hope I didn’t lose you by using the words “hydroponics” and “pH.” Forget them if they scared you. You don’t need to know anything about either - or anything about growing plants, for that matter. You simply need to know how to plug in an electrical appliance. What kinds of plants can you grow in an AeroGarden? Well, all sorts of cooking herbs, such as basil, dill and parsley. Or you can grow vegetables and fruits ranging from chili peppers to tomatoes or strawberries. Want lettuces? No problem. And, of course, you can also grow several varieties of flowering annuals. The basic AeroGarden costs $150. Seed kits cost approximately $20. You can learn more about the system by visiting the Web site at www.officialaerogarden.com. Then hoof it down to Bell’s or Mill and Feed and buy one. Finally, don’t wait until Christmas to get an AeroGarden. You’ll be missing out on two months of growing and won’t be able to brag about your own herbs, tomatoes and flowers while you are eating that holiday turkey, goose or moose.
Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at www.gardenerjeff.com or by joining the “Garden Party” radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR 700 AM. Link to original article |
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