You can get an indoor garden from Aerogarden indoor gardens or Click and Grow indoor gardens. Both use hydroponics which is ideal for an indoor gardening.
See about getting an: Aerogrow indoor garden
Or get a: Click and Grow indoor garden
These days, when people look for an indoor garden, they have the chance to move away from traditional soil-based growing in pots and containers. Containers will always have a place. There are some plants that will always be suited to growing in soil indoors but they may not, and often don’t, get the amount of high quality light that they need.
Modern indoor gardens bring together all that’s basically known about hydroponics and combines it with a full requirement of light. This is supplied by a set of reasonably high-powered LED grow-lights that are arranged to deliver a constant dose of the specific colours from the full spectrum that plants need.
The spectrum that makes up white light combines every colour that you would see in a rainbow. There are two light-wave colours that are needed by plants. These are blue and red. Natural sunlight will provide enough of these two required light-waves.
When you get an indoor garden going, doing things the old way, in a window box, the plants are shut away from full, natural sunlight, most of the time, so growth performance is likely to be impaired.
So, where can I get an indoor garden?
Let’s look at the Aerogarden indoor garden
There’s a wide range of models supplied by Aerogarden. They appear to be more readily available in the US but they are becoming available in the UK and Europe.
There is the Aerogarden Farm Plus. [Image] This is,currently, the biggest in their range. It can grow and sustain up to 24 plants. The smallest indoor garden unit from Aerogarden is the ‘Sprout’ which will grow just 3 plants.
Find out more about the range of units available, see: Aerogarden indoor gardening system.
As an indoor garden goes, the Aerogarden Farm Plus is heading for being industrial. The claim is that growing plants using the Aerogarden system, you can easily get a plant growth rate that’s 5 X faster than growing plants indoors in soil.
This will be due to the brilliant light that’s applied and the nutrient-rich liquid that the plants’ roots will be sitting in.
All Aerogarden indoor garden units arrive with a set of sponge plugs which are primed with seeds. These are usually a selection of herbs to get you started.
All you need to do is fill the water reservoir to the required level, place the seed plugs in the location holes and allow time for the water to become drawn up through the plug to the seed. You also need to place the provided, small transparent domes over the seed plugs to reduce dehydration.
It’s also recommended that the lights are switched on to help accelerate germination. The position of the lights need to be as near to the seed as possible at this early stage. Then, as the plants start to grow, the lights can be moved up to avoid scorching the plants’ tops.
The sponge plugs are the way to get out of using soil. The sponge is made from biodegradable material and provides the capillary action needed to draw moisture from the reservoir up to the seed or emerging plant.
The roots from the growing plant will grow down through the plug and into the water. All you need to do is keep the water level up and add nutrients. There’s an indicator to alert you when the water level needs raising and when more nutrients need to be added.
The Aerogarden system has an agitator method to circulate the nutrient-rich water. This works for a short while every hour.
There’s an app. facility that allows you to be in touch with what’s happening with the unit. You can keep an eye on the water level and nutrient concentration through the app. You can also switch on or off the lights remotely through the app. if you wish.
Find out more at the Aerogarden indoor gardening system.
Let’s look at the Click & Grow indoor garden
The Click and Grow system is a very simple indoor garden. There are two versions to choose from. These are the Smart Garden 9 and the Smart Garden 3. With the Smart garden 9 you get 3 sets of 3 seed-plugs which can be inserted straight away. These are usually a variety of mini tomatoes, Basil and green lettuce.
As with the Aerogarden system, you need to fill the water reservoir to the required level, place the seed plugs in the location holes and allow time for the water to become drawn up through the plug to the seed. You also need to place the provided, small transparent domes over the seed plugs to reduce dehydration.
The lights need to be switched on to help accelerate germination. The position of the lights need to be as near to the seed as possible at the early stage. Then, as the plants start to grow, the lights can be moved up to avoid scorching the plants’ tops.
The Smart garden 3 will support up to 3 plants which makes it a cut down version of the Smart Garden 9. It arrives with a pack of 3 seed plugs containing Basil seeds.
The Click & Grow system also has an app. which will help you to monitor activity in your indoor garden.
The Smart Garden system uses ‘Smart soil’
The plugs for both the Smart garden 9 and 3, are made of ‘Smart soil’ which contains nutrients to feed the growing plants after they have been moistened enough to germinate.
The smart soil in the plug is a sponge-like material that allows a capillary action that draws water from the reservoir below. This ensures that the seed and growing plant gets a constant supply of water and nutrients that gradually leach from the sponge plugs into the water. The Click & Grow system doesn’t need any agitator in the water reservoir because the nutrients are mainly in the seed plug where it’s needed. Find out more about the Click & Grow system.
To sum up
As an indoor garden, these systems are proving, for some, to be an effective and, in the right hands, efficient way of producing vegetable produce.
You need to know that the lighting setup can be a little overpowering. Some people find it a problem, others find it uplifting to have a source of bright light in their homes, especially during the Winter months when daylight can be dull and moods can be low.
Where can I get an indoor garden?
Find out more about the: Aerogarden indoor garden
Or the: Click & Grow indoor garden
These Indoor gardens don’t require soil, they are hydroponic (water-based). As the plant grows from the seed, the roots will find their way down through the biodegradable sponge plugs, into the water. This is where there is a considerable efficiency.
The water that the roots sit in has to be dosed with a sufficient amount of nutrient. This is added as an extra liquid in the aerogarden. The Click & Grow system provides nutrients by way of slow release of nutrients from the sponge plug.
Another use for an indoor garden of this type is to use it as a propagator. You can get blank seed plugs that have no seeds supplied with them and plant your own seeds. Go through the procedure of germination under strong artificial light and then the plug, with the young plant in it, can be removed and transplanted in soil. Either plant these in soil in an indoor garden or plant them outside.
If you’re serious about
growing vegetables indoors
you need to get an indoor garden
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