AeroGarden 2101-00S Classic 7-Pod with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit, Silver

by AeroGrow

Product Features

• The original indoor garden
• Everything you need to grow now
• Easy, foolproof and 100% guaranteed
• No dirt, no mess, no green thumb required
• Over 400,000 satisfied AeroGardeners

Product Details

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• Product Dimensions: 18 x 15.5 x 10.5 inches ; 11.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000PYF0PG
• Item model number: 2101-00S
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,313 in Patio, Lawn & Garden (See Top 100 in Patio, Lawn & Garden)
  • #75 in Patio, Lawn & Garden > Plants & Planting > Plant Germination Equipment > Germination Kits

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Enjoy fresh greens at every meal no matter what the season. With AeroGrow's AeroGarden garden kit, it's easy to cultivate lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers, edible flowers, and more in an energy-efficient, organic-based environment right in the kitchen. This compact chef's tool includes everything the indoor farmer needs: a preseeded bio-dome grow pod, two daylight-spectrum bulbs, nutrients, and a helpful tending and harvesting guide complete with recipes. Just follow the simple instructions to set up, and the growing process starts immediately, with germination occurring within 24 hours and a mature plant that is ready five times faster than if grown in soil. The AeroGarden system monitors itself to create ideal growing conditions for each plant and alerts you when it's time to add more water and nutrients. No dirt or natural light is needed, so even low-light spaces are suitable. Plug kits for many kinds of plants are available from AeroGrow.

Seven Reasons Gardeners Love the AeroGarden 1. Garden all year round • Extends the growing season to 365 days a year • No weeds, no pesticides, no mess • No land? No problem. Perfect for gardeners in condos, high-rises, and apartments. 2. Fresh homegrown herbs and vegetables, right in the kitchen • Garden-fresh food available all year round, "right off the plant and into the pot" • Grow a wide variety of salad greens, tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers, flowers, and more 3. Revolutionary aeroponic technology--plants grow in air and water, not dirt • NASA-proven space age technology; plants grow five times faster than in dirt • Grows hundreds of dollars of herbs and vegetables every year • Guaranteed harvests in 28 days (herbs and salad greens) 4. Plug-and-grow simple--100 percent success guaranteed • Grow lights included to ensure healthy growth without a sunny window • Preseeded bio-dome grow pods ensure 100 percent germination, often within 24 hours • Microprocessor automatically adjusts nutrient delivery, light cycles, and water flow for specific plant types for healthier growth • Reminds you when to add water and nutrients 5. Easy, no-mess seed starting for transplanting into outdoor gardens • Grow indoors to maturity and harvest or use as a seed starter for outdoor gardens for a head start on the growing season • Seeds germinate quickly and establish healthy root systems for transplant • Oxygen-rich growing chamber is ideal for propagation and rooting of plant cuttings for cloning plants of your choice 6. Convenient, no-mess, hassle-free growing • Plant in minutes, sprout in days, harvest continuously for months • Low maintenance--healthy, vibrant gardens in less than 10 minutes a month 7. Organic-based, timed-release nutrient tablets for healthier plants • Perfect nutrition and pH balance with more than 60 macronutrients and micronutrients for optimal plant health and abundant harvests

The AeroGarden System The AeroGarden Includes: 1. Built-in plant-lighting system • The full-daylight-spectrum, energy-efficient grow lights allow you to grow anywhere with no natural sunlight needed. 2. Aeroponic optimizing chamber • Creates a near-perfect rainforest growing environment. 3. Computerized "smart" garden technology • Built-in microprocessor automatically adjusts nutrient delivery, light cycles, and water for specific plant types • Built-in light timer turns lights on and off • Built-in reminder system automatically alerts you to add water and nutrients Free seed kit also included with each AeroGarden: A. Preseeded bio-dome seed pods • Enclosed in their own mini-greenhouse for ultra-fast germination B. Timed-release nutrient tablets • Perfect plant nutrition with 85 macronutrients and micronutrients for optimal plant health. C. Tending and harvesting guide with recipes • Walks you through everything you need to know to grow and harvest your plants, as well as tips and recipes for enjoying your harvests.

FAQ Q: What is aeroponics? A: Aeroponics is a dirt-free growing method in which plant roots are suspended in air within a 100 percent humidity, highly oxygenated growing chamber. Because the roots are bathed with ideal levels of nutrients, water, and oxygen, plants grow significantly faster, are healthier, and have a higher nutrient content than plants grown in soil. Q: How big is the AeroGarden? A: The AeroGarden has the footprint of a breadbox and is sized to fit conveniently under most cabinets. The AeroGarden measures 16 inches long by 10 1/2 inches wide by 15 1/2 inches high when it is first set up with the lights at the lowest possible setting, and 21 inches high at the highest level. Currently the AeroGarden comes in only one size. Q: What can I grow? A: Salad greens, gourmet herbs, chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, cascading petunias, and several types of basil. Q: How much time do I need to spend taking care of my AeroGarden? A: Approximately 5 minutes a month. You will need to occasionally add water, drop in two nutrient tablets, and provide minimal tending to your plants. Most of your time will be spent harvesting and enjoying delicious, fresh food. Q: How long can the AeroGarden be left unattended? What if I travel a lot? A planted AeroGarden can be left unattended for up to two weeks, depending on the type of plants you are growing and their maturity. Q: What kind of lightbulbs does it use? A: The AeroGarden uses full-spectrum compact fluorescent bulbs exclusively designed for the optimal amount and type of light needed for robust, healthy plant growth. You can find more information at http://www.aerogrow.com.

Product Description

Enjoy the taste and fragrance of fresh herbs, vegetables and salad greens grown right in your kitchen. The AeroGarden grows them all with no dirt, mess or pesticides. Plants grow in water, nutrients and air, up to twice as fast as plants grown in soil. It’s easy, foolproof, and 100% guaranteed. It’s self-watering and self-feeding. The AeroGarden automatically controls the built-in grow bulbs and tells you when to add more water and nutrients. Grow fresh Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Chives, Dill, Mint, Parsley & Thyme with the included Gourmet Herb Seed Kit. Seed kits for cherry tomatoes, chili peppers, salad greens, petunias and more are available. 100% success guaranteed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grow, grow, grow your epazote...or tomato, basil, petunias, August 31, 2007

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: AeroGarden 2101-00S Classic 7-Pod with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit, Silver (Lawn & Patio)

This is a remarkable device, one that is a boon to apartment dwellers with no patch of garden, or to anyone who wants an indoor garden that's nearly foolproof.

I have to say, I have probably a "black thumb." I can grow aloe plants really well, pothos (ubiquitous viney house plant) and I once had a good crop of morning glories but normally, my gardening efforts are pretty sad. I don't trust myself to keep an outdoor herb garden growing.

But I like to cook with fresh herbs, and I got really tired of trying to find chervil, let alone keeping basil and mint from going all black and soft in the fridge. After reading a lot of discussion about the Aerogrow and seeing a tempting sale, I decided to spring for one and try it out.

The device is a rounded vessel that holds a pump and water, and a light attached at the top. The surface of the lower vessel has a stainless steel plate with seven wells. You put plastic seed pods in these wells, cover with plastic "bio-domes" and add tablets of nutrient and let 'er rip. The pump feeds the foam in the plug where seeds are embedded. The light encourages the seedlings. Within weeks, you have a crop of various herbs or lettuce or flowers.

The "razor blade" of this device is the seed pod. It is a specially designed unit, like a small plastic frame rather like a thimble. It holds foam plastic, split in two. Inside the split, the manufacturer places some seeds and puts a paper collar with the name of the herb on top. The collar serves also to support the plant as it grows taller. The other "razor blade" is the grow bulb, which needs replacing after some months because lights grow dimmer as they are used. Eventually, the grow light is too weak to do its job and you need a replacement. I say "razor blade" because these disposables are unique to the unit and you must purchase them from retailers who sell Aerogarden products. There are master gardener kits with special pods you can use to insert your own seeds--probably a great idea for gardeners who need to get a real jump on the growing season, such as folks in New England where the season can be as short as 60 days.

I tried three kits so far: first, I used the gourmet herb kit. This had two types of basil (purple and green), mint, parsley, cilantro, dill and chives. I got a great crop of basil. Enough to share some baggies of this essential herb with my assistant at work. I got a bumper crop of dill, plenty of chives for breakfasts of omelets, and eventually, some viney mint that seems to be of the apple mint variety. Not enough to do tabbouleh salad, but enough to use in drinks and garnish fruits. Only the cilantro failed to grow. No seed even showed a sprout. I called the support number, and very polite folks immediately sent me a replacement and noted they felt it would take more than four weeks to sprout cilantro. Now, some of the herbs are slow to grow (parsley is notoriously slow) but neither pod ever showed a ghost of cilantro. I assume that the seeds supplied to the company might have been mistakenly irradiated food-grade spice seeds and not fresh crop growing seeds. In any case, I got absolutely nowhere with cilantro, a shame, as that is a very tender herb that doesn't keep well. The parsley grew too slowly to be of any real use, as well. But it did grow.

I eventually depotted the herbs into a kitchen flower pot (cutting off the plastic frame and leaving on the foam, into which the roots had really made a home.) Then I tried the lettuce. It sprouted in three days and in a month, I had enough to make some light salads and yes, share a bag with the assistant. But it seemed a waste to let the Aerogarden grow something as mundane as lettuce, and I prefer mache (cornsalad, feldsalat) or arugula to leaf lettuce, so I harvested the rest of the crop and started the French Herb kit. This is chervil, sorrel, parsley, chives, Marseilles basil, sage and savory. Everything sprouted immediately except the parsley and chervil, notable slow-pokes of the herb world.

I sure like having fresh herbs to hand on the kitchen counter. I can even see the attraction of having three or these mounted on an optional wall rack, but that is quite a luxury. However, a determined gourmet or gardener in a harsh climate or restrictive living setting could satisfy their green thumb with such an arrangement.

The customer support is fast and friendly. I have heard stories of failed pumps but mine is quite reliable, and I did have a light give up the ghost way early, and this was cheerfully replaced by customer service. The unit is attractive, easy to use (hey, my black thumb has yet to deter the Aerogarden) and it is a lot of fun to watch the plants grow taller and taller. I'd say this is a great idea for kids as well as cooks who like fresh herbs. As to the other kits, there are a number of them and more are being made available. I can purchase them at my local farmstand-garden shop and that's quite handy. Of course they are also available online.

The kits so far that I know of are the French Herb, Gourmet Herb and Lettuce I mentioned and:
Japanese Herb--two colors of shiso, mitsuba, chives, shungiku and cress
South of the Border: Epazote, cilantro, oregano, thyme, parsley, basil
Year Round Gourmet Herb (extra herbs like savory, sage, lemon basil, and the ones in the regular gourmet kit)
Holiday Herb (parsley, sage, oregano, thyme)
International Basil
Italian Herb
Cascading Petunia
Cherry Tomato
Salsa Garden
Beans
Snow Peas
Chili Peppers
More greens (arugula, mesclun, baby greens, chef pack, romaine)

And I assume more packs are in the works. All come with nutrient tablets and complete instructions.

I give this two (greenish) thumbs up.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I like it, but seed quality varies, October 11, 2007

By 

Sharon Crawford (Texas) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: AeroGarden 2101-00S Classic 7-Pod with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit, Silver (Lawn & Patio)

I wish I'd had one of these when I lived in a sunless one-bedroom apartment. It would have added some cheer.

The garden container is attractive and runs quietly. All the herbs, except the cilantro, sprouted in the time frame written on their labels. The Italian and purple basil are outpacing all the others, with chives a close third. The herbs taste great. I was never one to buy herbs; now I cook with them because they are in the kitchen, right there.

I thought the first garden was so nice, I bought another one. I put it in a room that gets no sunlight. It really brightens the space, and the tomato and pepper plants are looking good.

With the cost of the garden and the seed kits, I doubt this is economical, but if you're gadget-inclined and have killed so many plants in the past, this method is "so simple a caveman could do it". When the red lights blink, add water to the fill line and drop in 2 nutient tablets. And this happens every couple of weeks. I can handle that.

Mixing plants from different seed kits didn't go so well; so I won't do that again. And since the instructions said not to do that, I guess I won't blame the manufacturer :-). So far, I've restrained myself from buying a third garden.

When I bought the second garden, I noticed they had replaced the cilantro with thyme. My cilantro never sprouted. I haven't "planted" the thyme. I planted the Salsa kit instead.

In conclusion, this is a decorative tech-toy which will eventually produce tomatoes (if you bought that kit). I think it's great. It brightens a room with its intense grow lights and greenery. The customer service was polite and prompt in their response. (The first box had no seed kit :o )

**Update***
I have 3 different versions of this product including the deluxe model with the hood that extends much higher than original model. It's worth noting that results can vary even following the instructions. I suspect the seed quality. In one batch of herbs everything flourishes; in another I get a few weak plants and an occasional dud. One batch I got lots of tomatoes. This latest batch had none at all. No flowers. Nothing. But the pepper plants did well. Maybe there was more I could have done, but it's no longer a "no-brainer" if you need some skill to coax tomatoes out of your garden. Basil is a very safe bet. Tomatoes are dicey.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun for the Kids and Mom, October 18, 2007

By 

Becky J. Holden - See all my reviews
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This review is from: AeroGarden 2101-00S Classic 7-Pod with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit, Silver (Lawn & Patio)

My kids are loving watching the herbs grow. I am loving it too. So far we have only been able to eat a few basil leaves (the garden is fairly new), but it was the best basil I've ever tasted. It takes little space and is so convienient and low maintenance. Loving it! My garden is growing wonderfully. One of the easiest things I've ever done!