Customer Reviews

AeroGarden 2101-00B Classic Garden 7-Pod With Gourmet Herb Seed Kit - Black

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

see update at end of review

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I was lamenting about only having frech lettuce, herbs, chives, and tomatoes from may garden during the long fall-winter-spring parts of the year. The refrigerated stuff from the grocery store goes bad right away and does not taste as good as the fresh stuff from the garden, either.

Then I saw a Time Magazine page on the new AeroGrow AeroGarden, and I just had to try it out. After reading the AeroGrow website before making the purchase, I realized that buying one garden would not work for me, as the tomatoes cannot be grown in the same garden as lettuce & herbs. This is partially due to the large amount of room taken up by the tomatoes, and also because the lamp/watering cycle is different and finally because the nutrients are different.

So, I bought two gardens, along with the Salad Greens seed kit and Cherry Tomato seed kit. Each garden comes with a mixed herb kit, so I figured to mix in a few herbs with the other seeds, and if they did not work, no big loss.

The products came quickly and the instructions for assembly were very clear and well written with excellent diagrams. I came to realize that this somewhat pricey product at least comes from a company that produces a classy product (a rare thing these days). I found a space on a shelf beside the basement stairs, and placed both assembled gardens there. I also bought and placed a digital thermometer with maximum/minimum temperature memory readouts ($10 at Radio Shack), because I was unsure of what temperature extremes the plants might experience in that location (68-72 as it turns out).

The seed kits contain pre-seeded planting pods. Each pod is basically a plastic cup shaped frame with two pieces of foam rubber inside the cup part, like two slices of bread with the seeds sandwiched between them. They simply insert into the seven holes in the top of the garden's water tank. The Salad Greens and Herbs come with seven pods per kit, while the Tomatos come with three pods plus four hole plugs-the plants are bigger so three of them take up thw whole space available. The hole plugs prevent evaporation of the water through the unoccupied holes.

The water tank holds exactly one gallon of regular drinking water. Well water is not recommended, presumably because of impurities, and since I am on a well I bought two one-gallon plastic jugs of 'drinking water' at the store for 50 cents each and filled the tanks with their contents. A pump in the tank takes water and pipes it to the rim of each of the seven holes in the tank's top, and here the trickle of water flows into the foam sandwich of each seed pod. The foam stays moist and the rest of the water drips back down into the tank. The garden's 'computer' cycles the water flow on and off according to the amount recommended for the type of plant being grown. A water level sensor turns on a flashing red light when it is time to add more water to the tank.

The top of the garden is a reflector with two compact-fluorescent lamps, of the variety that has the special ultraviolet (UV) coating that causes the emmitted light to resemble sunlight. The reflector rides on a vertical pole that extends up from the garden's base, so you can raise and lower the lamps as required to keep them the correct distance above the plants. The garden's 'computer' also turns the lamps on and off according to a schedule tailored to the type of plant. If using the gardens in a place where the light might be a problem at night, you can syncronize the computer so that the lights are on only during the daytime and off when you are trying to sleep.

The seed kits come with little clear plastic cups that cover each pod until the seeds have germinated, then you can dispose of them. The kits also come with a bag of nutrient tablets, which you add to the water tank when the computer prompts you to by flashing a red light. The nutrients are tailored to the type of plant being grown, and there are enough of them to feed the plants during their anticipated life span.

I planted one garden with five salad green (leaf lettuce) pods, plus one pod each from the Herb kit, chives and parsley. The other garden got the threee pods from the Cherry Tomato kit; two reds and one yellow variety.

Each seed pod has a label that tells you how many days to wait for plants to appear after germination. All of my plants appeared like clockwork.

I have had the gardens for about six weeks now, and have been enjoying salads containing lettuce, parsley and chives plus other odds and ends from the fridge, for the last two or three weeks. The lettuce and herbs are all beautiful, with no problems from bugs or too much/too little water, excessive temperatures, etc. No need to wash the plants or check for bugs or pick off bad spots, everything goes straight to the salad bowl. What a joy! Even with only five lettuce plants, I have to eat two meals including salad each day to keep up with the growth. This would easily feed two people, and if all seven salad green pods had been used, three people.

The tomatoes are all doing well ahnd have been pruned according to instructions. It will be some time yet before they produce flowers, and then fruit. But based on the health of the plants, I expect a good yield.

Each seed kit comes with a full color manual/booklet that covers all aspects of 'planting', germinating, feeding, pruning (if required) and then harvesting the plants. There are also photos of plants where things have gone wrong (leaves burned because the lamps were not raised up as the plants grew taller, etc) with clear instructions on how to recognize problems and correct them. Harvesting instructions clearly tell how much can be taken at a time without killing the plant, and so on.

The AeroGrow gardens are a well designed, well built product with excellent documentation. All my visitors are amazed at how well the product works, and many have gone out and bought their own. I anticipate years of improved eating because of this product.

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Update November 2007

I used my two gardens all Winter (2006/2007) until it was time to start getting produce from my real (outdoor) garden in the Summer, at which time I put the little gardens to rest for the season. During their use, I got a large crop of cherry tomatoes, all of which were beautiful. I went through on crop of lettuce and salad greens, and when the lettuce finally bolted, I replanted with only lettuce (no chives, etc this time) and got another couple of months worth of lettuce. I have now fired them up again in the Fall, and have nice little plants popping up. Aerogrow has more seed options available now, so I have planted a more interesting kind of lettuce.

I bought an AeroGarden for my wife back in May. I'll start with the positives: It's a clever, generally well-designed item that generally functions well and is a nice addition to the kitchen. It's really great to have easy access to fresh herbs. In fact, if not for my one big complaint, I'd seriously consider getting another AeroGarden, so we could grow a greater variety and have a continuous supply of herbs.

However, there's a fundamental design problem with the AeroGarden's pump. After having the AeroGarden for about a month, the pump became terribly noisy, to the point where it could be heard vibrating in adjacent rooms. After running through a few steps with customer service, they sent me a new pump. However, because they've apparently had so many problems with the pumps, they were back-ordered and it took about three or four weeks for the replacement to arrive. Once I replaced the pump, the AeroGarden was again a welcome cohabitant, virtually silent except for the gentle sound of water trickling through the system.

All was fine until I pulled out the last crop of plants and inserted new seed pods and nutrients. I thoroughly cleaned out the reservoir unit, but within a few days, the pump (a replacement) started getting noisy. I just called AeroGrow's customer service department and they are shipping another pump.

The customer service folks have been very helpful, but they've acknowledged that there's a design problem. The pumps get noisy because tiny bits of root or nutrients get past the foam filter in the base unit, then get sucked into the pump's impeller. A small nick in the impeller throws off the balance of the pump and they become increasingly noisy. The only answer--at this point--is to periodically replace the pump.

So, just a little shy of four months into AeroGarden ownership, I will soon be on my third pump. I'm hopeful that they'll get this figured out at some point. They're very understanding and helpful in replacing the noisy pumps, but it appears to me that there's a fundamental design problem. As much as I like the AeroGarden when it's functioning as it's supposed to, I can't in good conscience recommend buying one at this time. I'd wait until they get this problem sorted out.

UPDATE:

The third pump did the trick. I haven't had to replace it since. I'm not changing my rating, however. Overall, I like the AeroGarden, but their seed pod packages are overpriced and underperform. The tomato garden was a total bust--lots of leaves, but not a single tomato--and the herb gardens always include one or two plants that die out within a few weeks. Some herbs consistently do well--basil and parsley come immediately to mind--but others just wither and die (and, yes, I'm very careful about water levels, nutrients, and trimming the herbs appropriately).

I think they could do a much better job of selecting quality plants that would actually perform well. Since this has been a consistent theme with each of the herb packages I've tried, I have to assume that most purchasers will have the same problems.

I love this product -- no dirt, no bugs and no chance of over-watering! This is very easy to assemble and easy to use. Just add water and a couple of nutrient tablets every two weeks. There's even a light that tells you when you need to do this.

I planted my Gourmet Herbs on June 15 and I was ready to harvest the basil before the fourth of July! If you follow the instructions, there's no way to mess this up. The herbs lasted about six months. My only caution is (and this is noted in the instruction booklet) that the lamps are on about 16 hours a day and they are bright at night. I can close off the bedrooms, so it doesn't bother me.

I highly recommend this product to anyone one who has tried to grow herbs indoors in the past. Aerogarden's customer service team is the best -- they know their stuff and are vary helpful. I had a problem with one of the herb kits and they have really worked to fix the problem.

Update: I read another reviewer's note about installing a new pump. I had a seed pod that never sprouted and after being shipped a replacement pod that also didn't work, Aerogarden sent me a new pump. I installed it last night with a new kit. The instructions were clear and it was pretty easy to do. I liked doing it myself in five minutes instead of sending the unit somewhere to be repaired. It still was an inconvenience, but my positive experiences with the product far outweigh the annoyance of the installation.

Update:
My first kit was the gourmet herb and as noted above, I had problems with the cilantro. I have since replanted my garden by mixing the French, Itallian and new Gourmet Herb kits and they've worked beautifully,especially the cilantro. The new pump has made all the difference. My oregano is even more hearty this time around. With the mew pump, all of my herbs are doing better. After almost two months of growth, the thyme appears to be the least robust of the bunch, but still has a good yield. It's in a back corner spot.

Bought a unit for my 80 year old Mother at Christmas. Great for a month. And the pump started making noise. Got so bad she had to turn it off. Emailed the company and they sent a new pump out. That one lasted another month. Noise could be heard all over the house. Emailed company again. No reponse. Called several times. Customer service got back to me and said they had a batch of faulty pumps from China and new ones were arriving the beginning of April. They had been redesigned. One would be shipped by the 15th of April. Its now June 4th and nothing. I have left several messages with customer service. Hoping one of these days someone will call me back and take care of this. With the kits and shipping this cost me over $200. And I am unable to return it since almost 6 months has passed. I should of returned it right away.

I received this as a gift; I was a little skeptical at first of the concept, but quickly got over it as I started to set it up and use it. I've now had it operational for 6 months and my opinions have pretty much solidified.

I want to end this review on a positive note, so I'll start with the two cons I have. First, its really bright. This might sound like a no-brainer, but is certainly something to consider as it has the harsh-white lights on for up to 16 hours a day. Lastly, you have to put in fertilizer tabs every two weeks, but they don't really give you enough to last through the life of the plants; you have enough for the first three months and if you want to "extend your growing season", you can purchase additional three month supply packs from their web site.

On the positive side, it really couldn't be easier to setup, grow, and maintain the plants. Takes less than 20 minutes to setup, and then just a few minutes every couple of days to maintain. Once the herbs are grown enough for casual harvest, you just snip and use. The plants are healthy and flavorful. Although you can use their seed packs, they also recently added a "Masters" kit that gives you a years worth of setups and fertilizer so you can grow your own seeds. All in all, a nice addition to a kitchen for either using fresh herbs when needed, or drying for later.

Well, I have five of these gardens now, so obviously this is a product I've been very happy with. I started out with tomatoes and salad greens, and the salad greens were so tasty I added a second garden of those and two strawberry gardens (the second one is on order).

I have had no trouble with the pumps or noise, and everything has grown beautifully. With five gardens going at once, it's so bright in that area of my kitchen that it looks like a UFO landing site, LOL, but they are all scheduled to go off at 11 p.m. so it's no problem at night when we're sleeping.

These gardens are so cheerful to have around. They add a nice moisture and a green, fresh smell, and I find the lights cheerful too.

The salad greens grow very quickly and are so tasty that my biggest problem is resisting the urge to constantly pluck off leaves and eat them all day long. That's why I got a second one -- so there would be plenty. With four in my family, one garden did not produce quite enough for us. Our first salad crop also did not grow for very long, only a couple of months, but I think that's just the nature of the plant. The tomatoes took a long time to go to the fruiting stage (13 weeks), but now they are producing two or three ripe tomatoes each day, and they are delicious.

I love having food growing indoors. No bugs, no bird poop, no dirt, and everything can be eaten right off the plant. Tonight over dinner we literally watched our first strawberry turn from white to pink on the end.

No, this is not a particularly economical way to grow food, but it's loads of fun and has been educational and exciting for my kids, who are much more interested in fresh produce than they used to be.

I've had no trouble with either the pumps or the customer service. In fact, everyone at Aerogrow has been very kind and helpful, both over the phone and in e-mail. I hope the company continues to thrive because I just love these little gardens and hope to use them for years.

This is one of these more useful kitchen gadgets. Every time I need fresh herbs for a recipe, I end up buying one of those expensive packs, use one or two twigs, and end up tossing the rest, and everytime it irks me. So this looks like it solves that problem, and do so without becoming this huge time sink that a full-blown herb garden would do.

One can argue that for $149 for the unit, and $20 for extra seed kits, I can buy a lot of herb packs at the grocery store before breaking even. True, but it makes it less painful to use fresh herbs or garnish your dish with a single salad leaf.

The one caveat I would put on it: you can't really mix and match the seed kits. The settings on the unit, and the nutrient tablets are optimized for each seed type. First I thought, I'd use 2-3 salad pods, a few of the herbs, some basil, and then some fresh tomatoes in the two units I bought. Well, that doesn't work (or at least I don't know what the results would be - but it's clear from the package that the nutrient tablets have different ingredients, and the water pump runs all the time for salad, when it only cycles on/off for other seeds). So I'd have to get 4 of those - that's a lot of money and a lot of space in the kitchen. So I guess I'll sequence which seeds I grow every 6 months and stay with 2.

The base unit always comes with the salad green seeds. Looks like they're the ones sprouting the fastes (within 2-3 days) - they must be hedging their bet against impatient and skeptical customers.

I agree with most of the other reviewers that this is a very fine product. It comes well-packaged and the instructions and assembly are easy to follow. The unit itself takes up very little space and gives off a lot of light for 15-17 hours. If you have a dark spot in the house you want to light up, one of these AeroGarden's can really improve the aesthetics. However, it's too bright to place in a bedroom in my opinion unless you good to bed late!

I like the idea of growing vegetables in the house and I think they look good in a kitchen. However, when you consider the cost of the unit, replacement bulbs, seed packs and operating expenses, it isn't necessarily economical compared to say organically grown lettuce. For herbs, I think it's great because you can freeze them and there is nothing quite like fresh herbs for cooking purposes.

I bought my unit primarily for aesthetic reasons and it is quite well designed and attractive. I'm looking forward to my first crop and my pump is quiet as could be. If the pump is noisy or becomes noisy, I highly recommend contacting customer service. My understanding is that AeroGarden service is top notch!

We sell this item at the store where I work, and I am the person who keeps it running, takes care of it, and makes it look good. That being said, I would recommend this item- just not for the chili peppers. We had no problems whatsoever with any of the seed packs until we grew the chilis. For some reason (maybe due to the length of growing time and strength needed in the the tap root), the root system just gets massive and ends up winding itself into the pump hardware. There are some "safety precautions" that the aerogarden has that usually prevents this (a specifically placed filter sponge and a tight seal leading towards the 'fan' blades), but this did nothing to stop the chili pepper takeover.

I spent almost an hour on the phone (on hold) during their open hours, waiting for a representative to ask for advice about the garden. I finally just left a message (because that option pops up about every three minutes), and they never called us back. I just decided to attempt to fix it myself. After taking apart the whole thing, and putting it back together root-free, it still makes grinding noises and hopefully the company that these come from will be able to help with a replacement.

I recently picked up the Aerogarden for my wife since she loves fresh herbs. The only Herb she didn't like in the package was Dill. So we replaced the Dill with Oregano and let me say it worked like a charm. We simply removed the Dill seed from the sponge and put in our Oregano seed. Normal germination for Oregano is 10 to 20 days. We had growth after only 3 days using the Aerogarden. Big Success - Love the Machine.

Take Care..