AeroGarden Harvest 2015 with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit, Black

Living in Las Vegas growing herbs outside is always a challenge....it's a struggle between our 120 degree summer heat and over watering. Growing herbs inside is just as challenging because of the lack of sun, so when I saw this machine I was pretty excited and asked for one for Christmas. My husband ordered it late and it wasn't supposed to be here until the day after Christmas, but it was surprisingly delivered on Christmas Eve day ( thanks Amazon!) and we set it up as soon as guests left after Christmas dinner.I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. I'm sure it worked ok ( it's also sold at my favorite kitchen store, Sur la table, which always has quality products, so it already scored brownie points) but doubted it was going to be life changing. The set up was really simple....so simple I reread the directions to make sure we didn't skip a page. Sure enough we were good to go and just had to wait. Within 3 days the dill had sprouted, I was shocked. Within another day or two both basils popped and I was over the moon. The mint was a bit slower at around 10 or 11 days, which was exactly what germination time had listed. Since then the dill, both basils and the mint are growing like weeds. In exactly three weeks time the dill is already touching the light, even after a heavy pruning, and both basils have already been pruned and used. Through all this I saw no signs of life from the parsley or the cilantro except this weird fuzz/mold growth. The germination time for them is 8/10-21 days, but since I was so close to the three weeks and still had seen nothing I wrote them off. I'm really only interested in growing basil, cilantro and chives, so the starter pack was more of a learning experience. On a hunch I googled the fuzz growth and actually learned it's a good sign....it's a good fungi growing and actually means your plant is very much alive. Two days later the parsley has a little bud growing through the fuzz, and just tonight I noticed the tiniest bit of green unfolding out of the dirt in the cilantro pod. Turns out everything is growing great, the last two are just very true to their 21 day germination period.The only noise I have heard from this thing is a faint trickle of water while I had my face 2" from the machine looking, so yes, it's totally silent. If I had to mention a draw back, this thing is shockingly BRIGHT. I have mine in my open formal living and dining room so it wouldn't get messed with. These two rooms are only used for holidays and mostly dark, and the aerogarden lights up both rooms like someone turned on a light. Luckily you can program the light to be on during certain hours, so ours is set from 630am-1230am. I think if the light was on in the middle of the night it would be bright enough to keep the dogs up howling at it. All in all this thing is awesome and probably one of the best/most practical gifts I've ever gotten. It's a must if you do a lot of home cooking but can't stand the expense of buying fresh herbs from the grocery store in the off season.

I've had this for almost 6 weeks and it is amazing. I have a black thumb, meaning I have killed every plant I have ever had including cactus and peace lilles. But my beautiful AeroGarden is growing and growing and growing. I have harvested and used the Fresh Dill with Salmon, the Mint with Tea, and the Basil with everything! (The Genovse is especially good on Pizza). The cilantro has just sprouted (everyone said it takes longer) and the Parsley is not tall enough to harvest yet, but I'm sure it will be. I had wanted one of these for several years, but was always afraid to buy one (because they are pricey), and i was sure I would fail. But it's seriously impossible to fail, if you follow the directions, maintain the water levels, add nutrients and harvest regularly, you will have wonderful fresh herbs.The only negative (and it is not a negative for me) is that the light is incredibly bright. We keep it in our front room, so the light shoots toward the street, rather than toward us, but if we had a smaller house OR lived in an apartment that could be a problem. When the timer turns it on at 7pm, it lights up the entire room! But that is literally the only negative and it's not enough to change my ratings. (Also something other reviews had mentioned.So if you are the fence because you think you can't do it, don't be. And if you use a lot of fresh basil, this will probably pay for itself in a year, because if you buy Fresh Basil once a week you are spendingt at least $100 a year for it.

This is my first AeroGarden Unit. I love this unit because of its compactness and simplicity to use. It has been 5 months since I have used this unit.This kit is the LED version and has 6 planter capacity. The kit has 6 seed pack of different herb variety that is already on its growing basket and sponge with a basket cover. My seed packs contained, Thai Basil, Genovese Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Mind and DillSetting it up is really simple in a few minutes my AeroGarden is running and have started the seeds. Depending on the seed, some have sprouted in less than a week others have taken 3 weeks. for the last 5 months I have grown the starter seeds that came with the kit, of the 6 seeds, only 4 remains, the Parsley and Dill have died. In their place are started two seeds scorpion peppers.This AeroGarden becomes too crowded once the basil have started growing.Their broad leaves may block the light to slower growing plants. The maximum height that you can extend the led lights can be an issue. Some herbs just need more height to grow fully. My Thais basil only produce small set of leaves due to crowding and the need to trim it when it reaches the height of the lights. The dill usually gets some leaf burns when a few of them reaches the light before the rest can.On my next planting I may need to plan out the kind of herbs and veggies that I will plant to provide the seedlings the maximum light they can get.The kit also contains a small bottle of liquid fertilizer. It worked okay. I switched to a different fertilizer that my herbs seems to liked better as they grow more roots.Overall this is a great kit. Its small enough that I could tuck it under the cabinet.

So far I'm in love with this thing. All our plants are growing nicely which I was really happy about as I had read a lot of reviews and some people seemed to be having trouble sprouting the cilanto so we were glad to see all the plants sprout. It is amazing how much each plant grows every day and has been really fun to watch (nerd much?)One CON would be something that is just what I would assume is an unchangeable fact: the light is insanely bright. As someone who never really turns the indoor lights on and appreciates natural light in the house as much as possible this light really is the opposite of natural looking. The light it gives off is very white. That being said it doesn't give off any irritating noise or anything. Unlike a lot of posters we have set our light to go on at night time. Even though this seems weird we really wanted to keep the AeroGarden in the kitchen and this was our way around having a weird light all day. The light goes off around 10am and comes back on in the afternoon. It started out this way by accident but we really ended up enjoying this timing. This way if someone gets up during the night we don't need a night light lol the kitchen is lit up.Anyways I can update this review as we go but so far we are really enjoying this product. Now the biggest problem is we want more lol we are growing the herbs and I'd love to grow lettuce as well. As I personally don't enjoy parsley and we will rarely use mint we are waiting on a few more herb pods we are going to try instead (chives and thyme) I can let you know how those go as well.

Plants grew. Some better than others. Thing is not even one year later the pump has stopped working. Review will change if support is offered

It took a couple weeks for things to sprout, but once they did, I had more herbs than I knew what to do with. The two types of basil were the first to grow and grow rapidly. The cilantro also has done well.Only two problems... The dill never sprouted and the 'add water' light never stops flashing. I have heard that some of these can be defective but it's worth sending it back for another one of this is the case.

This thing is amazing. It's very easy to use and quite straight forward. You never have to worry about figuring out when to water or fertilize, it will tell you. It also adds a nice little night light effect in your kitchen, if that is where you set it up. The herbs shoot up amazingly fast. They don't just die off after you snip some off either, they keep on growing and growing. I would even recommend getting the biggest model, for the biggest variety of plants and the most height allowable for them to grow. It's a great gift for someone who loves to cook with fresh herbs and is sick of the droopy pre-packaged ones at the grocery store in the middle of a cold winter.

Much too expensive. Costco had two for the same price.