Aerogarden Ladybug

If you want to introduce a child to the world of gardening, this AeroGarden 3 in the shape of a ladybug is a nice way to start. It comes with either an herb kit or (as pictured), a beautiful flower garden.

It makes a great birthday present, and a great way to teach kids about how gardening works if you don't happen to have a yard, and the importance of responsibly maintaining the nutrient tablets and water on a schedule. Plus, if you buy the herb kit, it's a great way to get them to grow you fresh herbs for free :)

I got an email today from Aerogarden saying that this is by far their best selling Aerogarden, and they have a hard time keeping it in stock, so hurry and get yours while you can!    

Happy Days are Here Again

Well, what a difference a few weeks make. Last week and this week I enjoyed several harvests of tomatoes. Here's what they looked like on the vine:

I nervously cut into the tomato, hoping not to see any dark spots. Happily, they looked great!

Three weeks ago I harvested a bunch, which I ended up putting in a salad:

Two weeks ago...

...I sliced them up and put on a Nutrisystem pizza:

Just a few minutes ago, I picked three, which I tossed in Italian dressing and ate as a snack:

So, it looks like the tomatoes are back. The single remaining vine is huge and stronger than ever, with at least 5-10 flowers on it.

Unfortunately, this is the week I'm running out of the tomato nutrients. I have some leftover nutrients which I saved from the failed Aerogarden snowpeas from last year. I suppose I'll keep the plant alive with those (hoping they have enough of the nutrients the tomatoes need), and then start to think about retiring them.

Blech--a rough patch (literally) in the tomatoes

I've been harvesting tomatoes pretty regularly. It's not a huge harvest, maybe one or two every two weeks. But still, there's something to be said about growing fresh vegetables in one's living room.

I had a rude awakening this week. Two of my tomatoes looked like this.

When I cut the tomato open, it looked like this (blech!)

Naturally, the first thing I thought of was that bugs had gotten into the Aerogarden. But to my relief, after a few searches on Google I realized that this is something called blossom end rot.

It's a natural disorder caused by a calcium deficiency. According to Colorado State University, it can be caused by a "combination of cold temperatures or excessive heat during blossom set, and fluctuations in water supply". This makes sense--the heating in my living room is not the greatest, so the Aerogarden has probably been subject to extreme cold with all the snow we've had this winter. Also, there are times I do let the water supply get too low. Finally, I have been using Aerogarden liquid nutrients for herbs--perhaps they don't have the same calcium content needed for tomatoes.

Anyway, I'm fixing all three elements, and we'll see how it goes.

Aerogarden Replacement Parts

For those of you who've owned Aerogardens for a while, you may have hit a situation where your  Aerogarden is sitting unused because it's missing a part. The good news is, the Aerogarden Store stocks replacement parts for any Aerogarden, new or old. Whether you need new bulbs or a new pump or even a replacement for any part of your garden, you can get it there.

Here are the replacement parts I find most useful. Most of these are available on the AeroGarden Store under "Accessories", but a lot of them can be purchased on Amazon as well.

1) Liquid Nutrients - Aerogarden's liquid nutrients are patented and really very good from a scientific basis, and their partnership with Miracle Gro is only going to help. Look to Amazon to purchase their official nutrients, or consider experimenting with one of the many alternatives that may save you money.

2) Replacement Bulbs - Again, you'll find the full-priced bulbs on Aerogarden's site, but check out this post for possible alternatives.

3) Seed Pods - Aerogarden.com has the full set of Seed Kits, but you can find some on Amazon as well.

4) Replacement Pumps - If you have an older Aerogarden, chances are you've had a pump that ended up breaking, either because the pump itself gave out from gunk getting into it, or by corrosion of the metal contacts. With the new Aerogarden ULTRA, Aerogarden has finally re-engineered it so that water doesn't come in contact with the metal parts (duh), but if you have an old pump, chances are you'll need to get a new one. The Aerogarden Store is your best bet for one of those.

5) Replacement Arms - Sadly, while Aerogarden catalog once had replacement arms, hoods, and bowls for every unit, they don't seem to sell those anymore. Your best bet is going to be to write to customer service to ask, or to check eBay for people selling parts or units you can get parts from.

Tomato Fried Eggs

My biggest harvest of the Aerogarden Tomatoes happened today.

 I was racking my brains to think of what to cook, and my thoughts turned to a quick dish my mom used to make called "Tomato Fried Eggs". This is a fairly traditional Asian dish, mainly reserved for those times when you don't have more than 7 minutes to put together a hearty and tasty meal for yourself or your family.

You start out by chopping the tomatoes. Check out how juicy they are!

Then, you fry up some eggs.

After that, you fry up your tomatoes.

Then you put it all together. 

Mix it up. 

Add salt and pepper and you have yourself a tasty and healthy meal that is phenomenal over rice. 

This is a dish that's way too simple and quick to find in restaurants, but for my money there are few comfort foods that are so tasty and good for you too. 

I see other tomatoes on the vine, so I'll keep trying to come up with more recipes!

Getting rid of gnats in houseplants with beneficial nematodes (awesome little critters that eat gnat larvae)

I recently wrote a definitive guide to getting rid of gnats. I thought I might provide you with an update. 

The tactics I tried (specifically, a combination of covering the pots with aluminum foil, dusting the soil with cinnamon, a homemade trap using white wine, and lots of yellow sticky traps worked like a charm. Well, mostly. Every now and then at night a gnat would still fly into my face as if to say "ha ha, you missed me!"

Given that one little fungus gnat can lay up to two to three hundred eggs in its lifetime, it stands to reason that I'll still miss some. And so it was time to bring in the heavy artillery. 

David at Gardener's Supply was nice enough to leave a comment on my post talking about something they sell called Gnat Guard, or "beneficial nematodes" (if Gardener's Supply Company is out of stock, you can buy the same thing from Amazon sellers called Scanmask). I had no idea what a nematode was, but since the word "tode" is in there, for some reason I thought of little frogs. And as annoying as a home overrun with gnats are, I figured it'd be a lot more annoying to be overrun with frogs. 

Well, of course had I not been asleep in biology class all those years ago, I would know that a nematode is a tiny roundworm. Now, roundworms get a bad rap out there because there are some nasty ones out there that get into people's tummies and into dogs' tummies and whatnot. 


But something I never knew was that there are good roundworms too. Specifically, little microscopic roundworms that, if put into soil, get in there and start munching away at insect larvae (including gnat larvae), but do zero harm to the plants or to you, your pets, and your kids. Beneficial nematodes have been used by farmers for years as an effective means of pest control without using chemicals or pesticides. 

(Having said that, my hats off to the marketing folks at Gardener's Supply Company for calling them "beneficial nematodes" and not "parasitic roundworms").

So, since I was still being overrun by these gnats, I wrote a little note to the good folks at Gardener's Supply Company asking if they could send a sample. I got a nice note back from their PR department saying that a sample was on the way, and giving these instructions:

** You may apply GNAT GUARD anytime soil temps are between 35-85 degrees F.
** Ships UPS (2nd Day) only- allow 1-3 weeks for arrival.
** OPEN IMMEDIATELY upon arrival. Product arrives in a mini-cooler with a
   cool pack inside to keep it from overheating. Product itself (sponge)
   is OK if warm, room temp, or cool to the touch. Store in refrigerator
   if you can't apply right away (be sure mini-cooler is open).

Lo and behold, yesterday I get this package in the mail: 

Now what I do remember from biology class is that insects have six legs, and roundworms have none. But I figured Gardener's Supply Company use the same yellow sticker when mailing out things like ladybugs. I opened the box, and thankfully nothing flew into my face.

This is the "cooler", using a miniature version of the ice packs some companies use when sending fresh fruit or perishable food. It was all very neatly packaged, I have never seen a cooler cooler (sorry). 

Inside the cooler was this small zip-lock bag with a sponge inside:

The instructions said this:

Gnat Guard

A biological control to rid houseplants and seedlings of fungus gnats and over 100 other insect pests. Gnat Guard nematodes target insect pupa and larvae living in moist soils in the root zone.

Active Ingredient: Steinernema spp.

Contents: 1 million covers 2,000 sq. ft.

Application: (see back label for release information.) For houseplants: 2 tablespoons of concentrate per 8-inch diameter plant. Apply 1 to 2 times per year. For greenhouse plants: apply 1 to 2 times every 3 months.

Storage: These nematodes are alive and should be released as soon as possible. Inside the package is a moist sponge which contains the nematodes. (You can see them with a magifying glass.) Refrigerate at 40 to 50 degrees F to temporarily store the nematodes for a maximum of 2 weeks. The sponge must remain damp. Add a few drops of water if the sponge appears to be drying out. 

Release: Remove the sponge from the package. Nematodes migrate into the sponge during shipping. Rinse the sponge and sponge package completely into one gallon of water. You now have a concentrate. Constant agitation of the solution while applying will ensure the most consistent coverage. For smaller applications; such as for houseplants and seedlings, you may use a watering can. For larger applications; such as for greenhouse plants, you can apply the nematodes using an injector system or dilute them with more water and use a pump sprayer, hose-end sprayer, watering can or pail. Do not leave the nematodes in standing water for more than 12 hours.

Important Note: The Gnat Guard must be "watered in" to the soil. A rinse of plain water after they have been applied will help ensure they have been carried into the soil. 

And so I following the instructions. I took the blue sponge out of the package. I wasn't tempted to take a magnifying glass to look at the little squirming critters as the package suggested. I figure they'd be happier if they didn't get a good look at me and vice-versa. 


I wasn't sure exactly what it meant by "rinse the sponge and sponge package", but I figured this would do it. I bend the sponge into the spout of a one-gallon cleaned-out milk container and put it under the sink's tap. 

Once the jug was almost full, I put the sponge in and gently shook it. Presumably, millions of little wormies were now swimming around in the water.


The next step was pouring it into my big plant pots. As you may recall, one of the tactics I used was to cover the top of the planter with foil like this. 

This was pretty effective as far as keeping the gnats away, but one unintended consequence was that when I took the cover off, there were at least 2-3 other kinds of creepy crawling things that decided they liked the dark, moist environment. I suppose they'd been sitting in the soil the whole time. Hopefully the little fellows can chomp up their progeny as well as the fungus gnat babies. 

Anyway, I poured the nematode concentrate into each pot I could, and then followed it up with more water. When I looked closely at the soil, it sort of "glistened", and I knew my little friends were at work. Now, I thought I might be a little grossed out by the thought of those little things in my house, but at the end of the day I've grown quite fond of them. They're like thousands of little friends who are helping clean my house. And they're safe to have around you, your kids, and your pets. 

It's been a few days now, and not one gnat has flown into my face. And so as thanks to Gardener's Supply Company I will happily endorse this product. 

Second Plant: yur fiahed!

With apologies to Donald Trump...

Remember way back when I told a story of two plants? The plant to the left was an eager overachiever from the start, while the one to the right took the longest time popping out.

Aerogrow was nice enough to send another pod, but as I got it in the mail, the second plant finally popped up.  While I never really expected much from it, I figured I'd let it ride and see what happened.

Well, if you take a look at the garden. it's a little misleading.

It looks like both plants are thriving. But upon closer examination, the bulk of the foliage is from the plant on the left. The plant on the right really never produced a thing. It grew big, and it's sucking up a lot of the water and the nutrients, but at the end it never produced any flowers. A few weeks ago, some buds did form, but within a few days they dried up and fell off.

So, as it says in the Good Book, "any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire". I tried all I could to get this plant to produce, but at the end it never did. So, off with its head.

Interesting still, when I removed the pod from the Aerogarden, three gnats flew out. Yes, the same gnats that I spent the last post trying to get rid of. Seems that the gnats were flying their way to the bottom of the stalk and laying eggs in the seed pod the whole time! Yet another reason to get rid of the underachieving plant.

So, it's down to one plant, but as you can see it's filled up the unit quite nicely on its own.  Hopefully now that it will get all the light and all the nutrients it'll step up even more.