AeroGarden 3: Herbs Without Hassle
Who doesn’t like fresh herbs? Now, who enjoys the hassles of dealing with dirt, bugs, light, temperature, inconsistency, and the other myriad things that can go wrong with plants? The AeroGarden 3 offers to remove most of the hassles- at a price.
More than two years ago, we reviewed the original Aerogarden, and many of the compliments we offered to the original unit still stand… and the changes have made the newer model quite a bit better. Not only is it much smaller, about half the size, the water and power requirements have also been cut down, it’s less noisy. And it still manages to produce a ton of plants, after only about a month or six weeks.
You’ll still need to be careful where you place the garden- it does make noise, require occasional water and an outlet, and attract a few bugs. And you’ll need to make sure the room temperature isn’t too hot or too cold for optimum growth (). Serious gardeners might not appreciate the need for the seed pods, but the included basil, thyme, and chives are nice, fragrant, and delicious. Flowering kits are also available, as are tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, and many others. They seem a bit pricey at first glance, $15 for the pods after paying $100 for the garden itself (which includes your first set free). But the trick is that they keep flowering and growing, offering dozens of meals over time, and thus decent value for very little effort.
Easy to use, ideal for smaller apartments, the AeroGarden 3 is an excellent evolution in the series. Maybe the next one will harvest itself, or grab water from the air, but until then we’ll be gardening in a way that makes NASA proud.
