Aerogarden Review
Spencer Pines, iReviews- August 23,2022
Spencer Pines, iReviews
August 23,2022
Gardening can be a real hassle. There’s a ton of research and planning you have to do before you can even get started, not to mention all the equipment you have to buy and weeds you have to pull, and all for plants that may not even sprout.
Aerogarden makes this whole process much easier by bringing the garden inside with a compact, much easier to take care of package. With Aerogarden, you can grow your own herbs and vegetables much quicker and with far less effort than if you were to set aside some space in your backyard for a full garden.
In this review I will go over the basics of Aerogarden, my unboxing and testing experience of the Aerogarden Harvest, some features of the product as well as the company’s online infrastructure to help you decide if buying an Aerogarden system is right for you.
- Plants grow faster than they would in soil
- Easy to take care of
- Lots of options for different living situations
- Takes up very little space
- Some seeds may not germinate
- Works best when you don’t use the device at full capacity
- Cleaning can be difficult
Aerogarden systems are great options for those who want to start growing their own food but maybe don’t wanna dedicate a ton of space to a full garden.
Product Features
:
- Grows up to 6 plants
- Built in lighting system
- Helpful indicator lights
- Hydroponic growing system
- Included 6 seed pods
- Included plant food
What is Aerogarden?
Aerogarden is a line of personal gardening pods that you can use to grow herbs, vegetables, and even flowers in the comfort of your own home. With Aerogarden, you can have fresh herbs and vegetables available year round right from your kitchen regardless of your living situation.
Aerogarden produces several different systems to fit your living situation, from the small Sprout model, which can grow up to 3 different herbs, to the Farm 12XL which can grow an entire tomato plant. Aerogarden pods also have indicator lights to remind you when your plants need water, plant food, or more sunlight.
If you’re looking to start gardening from home, I would say that buying an Aerogarden system is a great way to go, especially if you live in an area where outdoor gardening isn’t an option, like in places with colder climates.
Aerogarden Harvest Unboxing
For the purposes of this review, I received the Harvest model from Aerogarden. This model includes space for 6 individual seed pods and takes up very little space. Everything in the box was packaged very nicely and I had no issues getting the product out.
Included in the package was 6 seed pods. I really appreciate how Aerogarden included a set of herbs to get started with your gardening. They very easily could’ve not included anything, forcing you to buy additional seeds to get any use out of your machine, but they went to the extra step of packing in some tasty herbs to get you started.
Apart from that, the only other thing included in the package was the instructions, a bottle of plant food, and the AC adapter. It was quite the simple and quick unboxing experience.
Features
Plants and herbs grown within an AeroGarden unit tend to grow quite a bit faster than if they had been planted in soil. The small footprint and bright LEDs create a concentrated environment of nutrients so that your herbs can thrive even better than they would in a traditional garden.
I found the buttons and indicator lights at the bottom of the unit to be the most helpful as they let you know when your plants need more water or food. This made the whole process of growing my own plants much easier for a first timer.
All seed pods from Aerogarden come with a germination guarantee, meaning that if for whatever reason the seed doesn’t sprout, Aerogarden will send you a replacement seed pod to use in your unit.
Aerogarden Harvest Test
I’ve had my Aerogarden Harvest for about a month and I have to say that I’m very impressed with my results. Setup was very easy and self explanatory, I barely had to even glance at the instruction booklet.
In doing my research before setting up my unit, I found that most other users agreed that they got better results when they used 4 seed pods instead of the included 6, so that’s what I did. I personally think that the unit should have only had 4 seed pod slots for this reason, though having the option to put in more is a nice bonus. But having 2 holes remain unused made the unit look incomplete.
Over the next month I proceeded to care for the herbs, providing water and the included plant food whenever the indicator lights flashed red. What I liked the most about the Aerogarden Harvest was how little I had to do in order to get fresh, healthy looking plants. In a month I only had to pour in plant food twice and refill the water once. It seemed almost like magic how I was able to grow such good looking plants without having to do a lot.
I grew up with a full garden in my backyard that me and my siblings would care for and tend to occasionally and dealing with the Aerogarden was much easier than traditional gardening. Not once did I have to get my hands dirty, pick out weeds, or accidentally grab a lump of prickly crabgrass with no glove on when gardening with Aerogarden and the plants from the unit looked just as healthy, if not more so, than the ones we have growing outside.
One thing did go wrong when I was using the Aerogarden Harvest, however. One of the seed pods I initially planted when first setting up my unit failed to germinate. All of the other seeds did sprout up quite quickly so I’m assuming that this is an issue with the seed pod itself and not the Aerogarden Harvest. Luckily, the germination guarantee should step in and provide me with a replacement seed pod. At the time I’m writing this, I have not contacted Aerogarden about a replacement, but it’s nice to know that I’ll be covered if I do.
Other than a single seed pod not sprouting, I had no other issues with the Aerogarden Harvest. The unit was small and compact, fitting perfectly on my kitchen countertop, and the indicator lights really helped me know when to care for my plants.
How Can You Use Aerogarden? / Who Is This For?
I think what surprised me the most about my Aerogarden was how simple it was to use and how little I had to do to take care of the plants. By simply following the included instructions and providing water and plant food when the lights on front start glowing red, I was able to get 4 herbs to grow very tall and beautiful.
I would recommend Aerogarden to anybody who wants to start growing their own produce in their house. I would especially recommend the smaller models to people who live in apartments or are in a situation where they can’t dedicate too much space to a full garden as smaller Aerogarden systems take up no more space than a common houseplant.
Web Infrastructure
The Aerogarden official website has pretty much any and all information you would need to get started with your own Aerogarden unit. In addition to the garden units you can look at and buy seed pods as well as miscellaneous gardening supplies like extra pods, grow lights, and bulk plant food. Some guides and additional resources are also available on the website if you feel like you need some extra help in your gardening.
The one gripe I have with the Aerogarden website is the same issue I have with a lot of the websites I look at, that being the pop ups. It seems like every site I look at has pop up windows asking me to sign up for a digital newsletter or get some special “limited time deal” every time I click over to another page. The Aerogarden site doesn’t do this as much as other sites I’ve covered, but it still happens and it’s still annoying.
Should You Buy It
If you really want to start growing some of your own food and don’t have a ton of space to work with, then I would absolutely recommend picking up a unit from Aerogarden. They come in all sorts of sizes to fit your needs, plants are easy to take care of, and it’s much less hassle than working in a traditional garden.
Where to buy
All Aerogarden products can be purchased through the official website with free shipping on orders over $50. Additionally, the website has a tab for Today’s Deals where you can see which merchandise is currently on sale.
Aerogarden products are also available on Amazon and often on sale for less than they would be on the official website. This is what I would recommend buying your garden from the most since most products offer faster shipping with Amazon Prime.
Competition
Though I just sang the praises of the Aerogarden system, Rise may just have them beat out in terms of personal gardens. Rise Gardens are packed with way more features, such as apps and smart home integration to remind you when to care for your plants and give you tips on how to achieve healthier produce. Rise gardens also reign supreme in terms of aesthetic design as most models look very stylish and elegant.
The downside of picking a Rise personal garden over one from Aerogarden is the price. The regular Aerogarden Harvest retails for $164.95 whereas the Rise Personal Garden starter set is $279, over $100 more. I would say that the offerings from Rise are for the person who has gotten their use out of their Aerogarden and wants to step up.
Click and Grow has a line of what they call Smart Gardens which are similar to those from Aerogarden in many ways. These Smart Gardens future automatic watering, a built in lighting system, and a variety of seed pods to choose from, just like Aerogarden.
The downside to Click and Grow, however, is the same as that of Rise, the price. The Smart Garden 9 is priced at $229.95, which is less than the Personal Garden from Rise but still quite a bit more than Aerogarden Harvest, though this model features slots for 9 seed pods instead of 6.
Gardyn also produces high quality indoor gardening systems, albeit these units are much larger and more for professionals than enthusiasts. The Gardyn Home Kit 1.0 stands at 60 inches tall, or about 5 feet, and can hold up to 30 plants at once.
Smaller models don’t seem to be available from Gardyn at this time, so I would recommend this for the person who wants to get very serious about indoor gardening, especially for the price of $899 per unit.
Final Thoughts
The Aerogarden Harvest impressed me in almost every way, and if the other products are anything like it then all I can say is that this is a very high quality line of products. If you’re someone with a small living arrangement who wants to start growing their own food, I can’t recommend picking up an Aerogarden System enough.
Aside from a single hiccup regarding a seed pod that didn’t sprout, I had no issues growing my own herbs with Aerogarden. In very little time and with minimal effort on my part I was able to grow 4 tall and beautiful herbs from a countertop in my kitchen.
The other products available, like extra lights and bulk plant food, also make this a very easy recommendation for me. It’s nice to know that I can get everything I need for my Aerogarden unit all from the same place.
Overall, I’m very happy with my Aerogarden Harvest and I plan on continuing to use it for the foreseeable future.
Resources and Further Reading
