Indoor Gardening: AeroGarden

(photo from the box-- my plants are still babies)

I recently treated myself to a little indoor gardening machine... er... situation... er... contraption called AeroGarden.  It's a countertop garden that can grow just about anything.  I thought some of you fellow plant-obsessed friends might be interested in this, so I thought I'd share a bit about it here on the blog!

  
I found this guy on Amazon when I was shopping for who knows what.  I had gardening on the brain because I had just put some of my baby plants in the ground outside in the raised beds.  When I came across the AeroGarden, it seemed like a wonderful way to have fresh veggies in the house now, instead of waiting until summer for my plants to produce.  I mean, obviously I can just run to the grocery store to snag fresh ingredients, but it sure is convenient to walk over and trim what you need.

The way this thing works is simple: you fill the base with water and plant nutrients.  My AeroGarden has 6 slots for growing whatever I choose.  For now, I'm growing 2 pods of salad greens, 2 pods of roma tomatoes, and 1 mint and 1 basil.  The pods started sprouting within the first week and have really taken off since then.  I think I'm about 20 days in at this point and the plants are getting pretty big!


As you can see, the grow light is pretty intense, but I don't mind it because our dining room tends to stay on the darker side.  The light stays on throughout the day and shuts off around 1am or so.  The height of the light is adjustable to allow more and more room for your plants to grow.  The LED screen on the front reminds you when to add nutrients and water, so it really seems to be the simplest/fool-proof way to grow food indoors.  Oh, and there's a bonus to having this grow light in a darker part of the house:


My house plants in the dining room are VERY happy to have the extra light!  Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted on progress with this indoor garden.  So far, so good!  Happy Tuesday, friends!

Plants and Propagating Progress

I hosted a plant swap recently (you know I love gatherings) and it was such a fun night.  All of the ladies that came seemed to have knowledge of different plants and I feel like we all got to learn something.  I've struggled with succulents in the past (I know, I know... they're easy) and I'm having my first bit of success with propagation.  It's a small success, but exciting just the same!


Can you see the baby roots sprouting out?  I've become a little obsessive and probably check them everyday, but like I said-- this is the first time I haven't killed the babies immediately!  Yay! Basically, I just needed to stop "taking care of" the leaves and just let them be.  When they would start to shrivel, I was certain they needed water.  Nope!  They were forming roots and new babies.  Dry soil is your best friend here.  Thanks to all my IG friends who have answered a million of my questions!


I also learned that you can propagate Pothos cuttings in water.  It's recommended to plant them in soil after they start sprouting roots so they can adapt to soil a little more easily.  I have a ton of this plant around my house, so I'm excited to start sharing babies with friends!

I'm testing out some other propagation methods on various plants, so I'll let you know how they go in the coming months.  Do you have favorite plants to grow indoors?  I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of the trickier (for me) plants.  It's all a learning process, right?  xo.

Indoor Gardening

I've been missing my summer garden... like, a lot.  It's my favorite thing to obsess over, and my favorite way to relax and zone out.  Lately, I've been repotting plants like crazy and circling the house with the watering can, just to fill that green hole in my heart (dramatic much?).


Did you spot that venus fly trap up there?  Yeah, I know it's completely impractical and I'll probably kill it within two weeks, but hey, you only live once right?
What are some of your favorite indoor house plants?  I'm still a chronic succulent killer, but it doesn't stop me from trying!

Happy Tuesday, friends!