I have always loved gardening. One of my favorite winter time activities is pouring over the seed catalogs when they arrive just after Christmas and making plans for what I intended to plant as soon as the weather warms up.
Those seed catalogs helped me make it through many dark and bitterly cold Wisconsin winter days when the snow was so deep that I almost forgot what my deep rich garden soil felt like between my fingers!
My kids know me well and one of my favorite gifts from them this Christmas was an Aero Garden. When I first saw it I was not convinced it would grow anything, but I was wrong.
It came with pre-planted sponge pods and all you had to do was fill the reservoir with water and add a little plant food that they supplied. Then drop the pods in and plug in the light.
It was no time at all before the little plants began appearing.
The light needs to be raised as the plants grow larger. I was harvesting fresh herbs frequently and it seemed the more I trimmed them the more they grew. I always do more cooking during the winter and everything I made was tastier with the addition of my freshly picked herbs! I used the mint for making tea, and used the basil, dill, thyme and parsley frequently.
I soon had quite a jungle of hydroponicaly grown fresh herbs and I decided to order a second unit along with a box of lettuce pods.
I want to try transplanting these mature herb plants to pots of dirt.
The lettuce seems to grow before my eyes and I will soon have my first harvest.
They have a wide variety of pre-planted pods, a couple of types of flowers, cherry tomatoes, Kale and other greens.
I bought some empty pods and am going to plant some of my own seeds that I couldn't resist ordering from the catalogs, and I will start the plants indoors in my aerogardens before transferring them to pots to grow out on the deck this summer.
It has been fun to continue my love for growing things throughout the winter!
gifs by @irisworld