apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Perfect! I totally need some help on this topic. I didn't manage to make it to the botanical gardens this weekend for the herbs seminar and I'm dying to grow herbs in my apartment (I have lots of sun in the AM hours). I tried it once before (thyme, rosemary and basil) and they all died pretty quickly. I don't know very much about plants in general, but they usually don't die on me quite that fast. Can anyone offer me some pointers?

for the first time in my life, i have a fire escape on which to have an herb garden. could you post an "herb garden for dummies" how-to for people like me?

Have you seen this:
http://www.aerogrow.com/home.htm
I can't decide if it's frightening or cool.

BTW...I didn't go on vacation once last summer, and every plant in my apartment (and on my fire escape) was dead by July-- EXCEPT the window box left by the previous tenants which I never watered once. Out of nowhere beautiful, multi-colored sprays of portalaca grew from early summer until Thanksgiving. I am not kidding.

liz, i would suggest growing hard to kill herbs. mint should be in it's own pot since it tends to take over. lemon balm is a good one for tea. you can go for rosemary too. all 3 that i mentioned are perrenials, can deal with partial shade and depending on usage won't grow to tall (in case of wind). beyond watering when needed they can be left to themselves. i would pare down my herb choices to those you will use the most often. i use all 3 at least once a week. because i use them it causes me to look in on them. i use to have a fire escape garden in chicago and my little planter did well under the conditions.

my spidey sense is telling me we have overwaterers in the house . . . you stick your finger in the dirt to see if it needs water - when it's dry under the surface, you water.

after years of trial and error, I managed to keep a pot of basil thriving over the winter in my kitchen window.
By this time of the year, it was always just barely hanging on, pale and spindly.
the solution?
Afternoon sun was not enough; a grolight did the trick.
I got a couple of pendant lamps from IKEA and put grobulbs in them
(link on my name)

Thyme, sage, and rosemary all like to be a wee bit on the dry side. I water them every 4 days or so. There's things that look like thick white shoe strings for short vaco plant watering -- you soak the string, stick one end in the pot and another in a big glass of water...the water wicks slowly into the dirt. It's like a grade school science project.

Basil and rau ram (vietnamese coriander) like more water...you'll see them wilt if you are underwatering (sage too for that matter)

clay pots help if you are an overwaterer - they absorb the excess. plastic pots (or a plastic pot inside a better looking ceramic one) are good for things like basil that need help retaining water.

this morning I planted parsley and cilantro seeds in pots outside....it's so nice out today...

Karin, I think the Aerogrow is the same thing that the NYTimes featured sometime in the past few weeks. I was really interested in it too -- since all of my windows look out on to air shafts and have no light. I would LOVE to try a kitchen herb garden too!

Does anyone know if Aerogrow is cool?

Aerogrow my mofo ass! (Shucks, my turrets will not let go of that one.) Seriously, who is considering an Aerogrow? I really don't care to know. And, did the NYT really write a feature on that thing?

An Aerogrow! Ha, ha. It looks interesting.

one insult comedian is one too many
especially the extra unfunny ones AT is currently attracting

the Aerogrow looks pretty cool to me
it's just an all-in-one unit version of a growlight and pot

Polite Pierre,

Here's what the Times said:

By FLORENCE FABRICANT (NYT) 271 words
Published: March 1, 2006

Having lettuces and herbs on hand for snipping is a cook's delight.
The AeroGarden, below, is a self-contained kitchen garden with a water reservoir and grow lights. It uses a type of hydroponic system in which the roots of the plants are partly exposed to air. It is 19 by 10 1/2 inches, and when the lights are raised to the maximum height, 22 inches tall. A control panel signals when to add water and nutrients to herbs, lettuces, cherry tomatoes, chili peppers or flowers. The lights must remain on for 16 hours or so a day. Within three to four weeks the crop can be harvested, and plants will continue to produce for about two months. The AeroGarden, in black or white, is $149.95 from aerogrow.com, and in only black at Sur La Table stores. The seed pods are sold separately, $19.95 a kit.


For those with small kitchens, another way to grow herbs is with Egglings, above. Tap the top to crack the thin, porous ceramic Eggling, break enough away to enlarge the opening, plant the seeds that come with it, set it on its little terra cotta tray in a sunny window, and herbs or flowers will sprout. You won't get enough basil for pesto, but you will be able to pluck leaves or sprigs. Egglings, with thyme, basil, mint or flowers, are $8.95 each from elsewares.com. Jumbo Egglings are $19.95 from sprouthome.com.

Thanks Chris; I do apprecaite the info.

I didn't mean any offense by my earlier post; thanks for not taking any offense.

I grow scallions in my kitchen and the are EXTREMELY forgiving. They love water and will start to die quickly if they dry up - but they always come back to life with a bit of water. I've killed my plant so many times, but the plant always survives. Rosemary is really easy and likes it dry. I find sage is really picky and i've yet to find a happy medium with watering.

the aerogrow looks interesting, however the lack of variety for pods and the cost for pods ($20 everytime you refresh) tirurns me off. If someone figures out how to create your own pods, then i'm interested!

and herbs are very forgiving if you grow them yourself, water every few days and give them some sun.

Abby, herbs like a lot of water, but they need to dry out in between waterings. They should not be continually moist as with African violets. Save a gallon milk jug and follow the directions on the Miracle Gro box for continuous feeding.

They need as much sun as you can give them. (Easy for me to say - 5 stories up facing east in a height-restricted city.)

Harvest frequently, freezing the crop if necessary. If you get pests, you won't want to spray, so fill your sink with water and submerge the plants. Drown's the bugs.

Finally, I know we're talking about plants, but I don't recommend that novices try rosemary or other woody herbs from seed. At least if you want some on your chicken soon.

I am sick with remorse. I've just committed apostrophe abuse!

I had a mixture of herbs together in one pot, and I couldn't seem to keep them alive- I tried various time periods between waterings, and nothing seemed to work well for all of them. Should you plant different herbs in separate containers? I checked out the egglings listed above, but there isn't much choice in the herbs you can get in them. Is there a good place to get ready to grow kits?

Jean, "apostrophe abuse", you just made my day!:)

Carolyn, do you have a farmer's market nearby?
Buy plants there, and keep them in their own pots. Some of them mix, but I think it's mostly done 'cause it looks cute.
In the spring, even grocery stores sell flats of basic herbs.

I wouldn't start anything from seed for little window gardens, esp if you're new to this. It's not hideously hard, but it's just not necessary either.

I can't grow plants in my apartment as it is a tiny thing with only East windows in partial shade behind trees. However, I received my Aerogarden last week! The $20 seed kits seem worth it to me, since they come with nutrients to add every 2 weeks. And the Areogarden comes with 1 seed kit. I wanted parsley, and never planned to use the red Basil (the herb kit also comes with an Italian Basil) so I pulled out the sponge for the Red Rubin, and removed the seeds & replaced them with Parsley seeds. The Parsley & everything seems to be growing better than what happened when I tried the Chia herb garden in the same amount of time (I used the leftover Parsley seeds from this).

If you want to grow something else, you can replace the seeds with something similar. I suppose you could do it yourself, but you'd have to figure out what nutrients are best (they are different for each kit) and which program has the correct Lighting & Watering schedule. For Example, the Herbs have 17 hours of light a day, and are constantly watered only when lit. The Tomatoes get 16 hours of light, but are watered for an additional 4 hours after the light goes off. They put a lot of thought into this, so they only guarentee you get a harvest with their untampered pods. So my herbs are no longer guarenteed, but are doing better than anything I've managed to try to grow so far.

Oh, and in September they are coming out with new kits. I know they will have French, Italian & an Asian herb kit in September. They are also working on Strawberries, Baby Bell Peppers, Wildflowers, A salsa kit & a pesto kit.

Hello peeps
I've always been pretty bad at keeping plants alive and tend to forget to water them and then drown the poor things to compensate ... However.... I now have loads of herbs in pots by the kitchen door and one tip I found useful is to always water your Basil plant from underneath. You just pour water into a saucer and let the plant drink its fill.. after an hour or so if there's any water remaining pour it away - :-)
Nice site by the way.
Nicole

This system is a joke they have one weak size.. I feel bad for who ever gets conned into this product if you all want to try a real system I use Botanical Brothers self watering pots they make 12 sizes for small herbs to large pots for all your house plants go to there website www.botanicalbrothers.com

hope you all see the big picture........

Thank god for Botanicalbrothers >com they have the best self watering Herb kits on the Market Thank you guys for all your Help!!! WWW.Botanicalbrothers.com
Sample kits Are$40 freee shipping

I have the AeroGarden and love it. I've tried growing herbs and other plants on windowsills and fire escapes without much success. I just couldn't find a spot with enough natural sunlight that didn't get blasted by my radiator during the winter, killing everything that was once green. Typical of New York apartment living. The AeroGarden solves all those problems and it's foolproof. The lights are set on a schedule and a little light indicates when it's time to add water and nutrients. I have fresh salad every other day and plan to order the herb garden pods.

We've found out the hard way here in Alaska: Growing ANYTHING is incredibly difficult, especially when we have several months of almost complete darkness. Window sill kits just don't cut: it's just too cold (-50 is no joke!) and too dark for too much of the year.

We've recently purchased the AeroGarden and so far, it's solved more problems than you can imagine. Yes, it was a little pricey, but setting up a similar system on our own would have been relative in price. It'd be great if we could 'mix up' the harvest a little, adding greens with tomatoes and herbs...but even having to rotate them out is worth it. Added bonus: additional light and a touch of humidity...priceless in the dead of an Alaskan winter.

And something that i haven't really seen commented on that i think is a plus: the nutrient tablets are certified organic. Yay.

Like others, i'm excited about the release of new pods that should be coming available...especially strawberries! Fresh smoothies are top priority in a place where fresh produce is insanely expensive.

Maybe when i've gotten the hang of it, i'll even try switching out pods with my own seeds and such.

I love the Botanical Brothers Self watering pots they have made my life so simple.. Check out the new website.
www.botanicalbrothers.com
Kimber rose

Enough with the company plant (npi) shilling

I've got two AeroGardens right now and LOVE them. One is rocking the Herbs/Basil and I just had my first true harvest. Very tasty. I also was one of the first to get my hands on AeroGrow's new strawberry kit and am tracking progress at aerogardenstrawberries.com.

Here's another idea for indoor gardening - indoor light gardens at http://www.tindaraorchids.com/index.h - I've seen them offered at Vermont Gardeners Supply, too. But Tindara seems to be offering both, last time I checked.

I had an Aerogarden. It worked pretty well, but it's a little big for New York living (it takes up more than half the depth of a kitchen counter). It's glaringly bright. And it's not cheap. Their business model is to lock you in with buying new seed packs (you can't easily use your own). It's been under my desk for about 6 months now.