| Project Update: Aerogrow Master Gardener Deluxe Kit |
Each month we look forward to providing you with an update on a project that we have been working on here at Kitchen Garden Today. We do this work to help provide you with the best information on alternative gardening products (i.e. AeroGarden, Earthbox, etc.). So that you can see how these products work, and if they truly stand up to how the company advertises the product should work. For the month of July we have been working with the Master Gardener Deluxe Kit from Aerogrow. For this we did purchase a second Classic AeroGarden for this project, since we are still growing the Salad Greens Kit in our other AeroGarden. When we had decided that we were going to use the Master Gardener Deluxe Kit, we had to decided on what we wanted to grow with this kit. Have have detailed this process, in an entry in our blog Master Gardener Kit: Selecting the right vegetable. We decided on the Pepper Cherry Pick Hybrid, from the Park Seed Co. which we ordered several packages of seeds from for a very good price. We do urge people who decided to use the Master Gardener's Deluxe Kit, to make sure and take the time to research the best vegetable. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to send an email to us with any questions. The process of planting the Master Gardener Deluxe Kit, does involve about an additional 30 - 45 minutes of time. You can view the entire planting process, as we did document in Master Gardener Deluxe Kit: Planting your seeds. Once you complete one grow pod, the process does become easier but make sure not to rush yourself through the process as it could have effects during the season. Once we had planted our grow pods, it took around 36 hours for the first signs that they had germinated. It then was about 5 days later than they had made it above the horizon of the growing surface of the AeroGarden. About 10 days after it was clear how many plants were growing, we then proceeded to trim out all but one of the plants. This is to help allow the one plant get the nutrients and water that it needs, and also doesn't have to contend with any other plants in there grow pods. Since that time, each of the individual plants have been thriving and growing very nicely. The next step is that we are going to have to add some support for the plants, as they are already beginning to lean a little. Also another thing we are going to have to address is pollination, since this is a fruiting plant that is something we are going to have coming up in the near future.    As you can see in the above pictures, that the plants have been doing well so for. We look forward to bringing you updates during the month, on how our Pepper Cherry plants are doing. |
