AeroGrow 100694-WHT Harvest Slim Indoor Garden, White, 6-pod

I bought this because I wanted an easy way to grow some salad over winter, because it was on offer & because I was curious. I have had my 1 st one for 5 months & was later given a 2nd one for Xmas.Pluses:It has more than exceeded my expectations. I didn’t want the herbs it came with ( we have a garden) so I bought the heritage lettuces & although only 5 pods grew, they have provided 2-4 portions of salad/ week for 4 months, so although I thought it would be an expensive novelty; relative to buying bags of ready salad in winter, it has worked out. It has also given me a lot of pleasure, required no digging & no slugs nor braving the elements! It was just so easy & gave me interest during lockdown.I was able to piggy back other ordinary plants onto the light ( this worked even better for straight upwards growth when I was given the 2 nd aerogarden) So I ended up experimenting growing micro herbs ( peas & beans for cut & come again shoots tasted the best) & thus making more & more interesting saladsIt would be a very exciting project for family as the salad pods germinate within a week!Learning:After about 5 weeks the leaves were growing so fast that they got “ tip burn” - this was solved with a mini desk fan I happened to have already. I don’t know if a programmable version allows a shorter light period so growth not so fast & so don’t get this.I bought the slimline as I thought it would fit nicely in kitchen - unfortunately I found the light just too irritatingly bright. I even contemplated making a screen. In end, all solved by moving it into the hall. It wouldn’t do for a bedroom!The timer light is set by pressing it until it blinks & it is set from the time that you do this. So if you want it to be on when you are awake then you have to set it when you get up. A few times I accidentally turned it off later in day, whilst cleaning as it’s quite sensitive. This is fine as can turn it back on but then have to manually turn off & in order to get the time window back to match - you have to wait til the next morning & turn it on/ reset it until it flashes then.I accidentally only gave it half feeds near the end but surprisingly the plants did ok, although they did look less sprightly by the time the feed light was flashing.The bigger the plants are the more often it needs watering - possibly 2x week. If one went away, I’m not quite sure what would do - perhaps cut the plants very small ?It does get crowded - in a way it was helpful that only 5 pods germinated. I tried growing a couple of my own seeds in the failed pod but even though they were meant to be fast growing, they weren’t as successful, so they clearly choose varieties that work & there are several salad plants in each pod.I covered the non used hole.When I got the 2 nd aerogarden I grew the herbs. The dill & Thai basil were extremely fast & prolific. I had to repot the Thai basil & it flowered! See photo. The other herbs were fine & I have used them. A coriander would have been nice but I was able to grow a large pot of this next to the aerogarden using it,s borrowed light.I did umm & ahh whether to get a bounty initially, as it has a taller light & more spaces but actually I think in reality it would be hard to grow plants in all of the spaces. The height of mine was perfectly fine for salad & herbs ( latter need trimming shorter)I’ve done well with 2 smaller aerogardens & it’s created a piggyback pot garden between them anyway.I’m also glad I didn’t get a programmable one as I hate faffing about & this was a simple thing, albeit a bit of a nuisance if had to remember to reset next morning if accidentally turned off & then on- maybe programmable would have been better for variable growth periods - I don’t know.I ve been waiting to retire it for the summer, for a while, now we can grow outside, but it’s taken ages for the lettuce to finally taste too bitter & start to fail. Amazed that they lasted 4 months!

This is a fun gadget for growing plants in winter or non sunny spots.As other reviewers have mentioned, the light is quite bright- as we have it in our kitchen this has actually been quite handy and we use it as a night light at times but I wouldn’t want it in my bedroom. The light also appears less bright as the plants grow. The pump is reasonably quiet and we hardly notice it.All the plants have sprouted and grown. The mint is a bit sad but everything else is flourishing. Have posted photos from the first 8 weeks below to show the progress. Beware the dill! This sprouts first so is most exciting but then it just keeps growing and despite trimming it regularly we have more dill than we’ll ever need. The roots get very entwined so we can’t just rip it out and replant it so next time I’ll just order the herbs we want.Maintenance is easy - top up with filtered water regularly, feed fortnightly with 2 caps of supplied food and change water monthly (they recommend siphoning but I just tip it down the sink)Not value for money system for cheap herbs, but nice if you want fresh herbs all year round and maybe to use as a seed starter.I have it on a window ledge which will probably be too hot for plants in summer so will move it when temperatures warm up

Overall this is what I was expecting and it’s easy to set up and use and fits the kitchen window perfectly. The only downside was that 2 of the 5 plants failed to grow while one of them grew so fast that it was unstable. I understand though that this is nature but for the cost of the product I was hoping for all of the plants to grow and the ones that did not to be defeated by the product that is designed for them to grow in. Overall I’m satisfied though.

Update at 4 weeks:This is amazing. I have franken-plants! They're growing at a rate that I imagine they would in tropical countries, but here in the UK in the middle of winter. The heady scents of basil and tomato plants are right at my fingertips whenever I pass by. Amazing.I bought the Aerogarden Harvest Slim as I wanted the pleasure of growing plants in this bleak, eternal grey season that we in the UK experience for 6 months of the year.I thought the pump gave it an edge over the click'n'grow rather than the passive uptake system - I know that this doesn't matter for most plants as they seem to thrive anyway, but as they are a similar pricepoint, I decided to go for pump rather than not in the hopes that this gives me the ability to grow a broader range of plants. Although I thought the click and grow looked nicer (trans: less like a spaceship).My Aerogarden was delivered 10 days ago, and of course I set it up immediately! It was super easy to do - add water and solution, plug the adaptor in and turn it on. It's very easy to use. Turn it on and the lights will be on for 15 hours continuously from that point, and will turn on again at the same time everyday (easy to change the start time).I had leaves within 4 days (signs of life in 3) - I started tomatoes and basil. The mint hasn't germinated yet so I guess that's a dud; hoping to get these replaced.If you're thinking of keeping this in a bedroom (as I did), think again - the lights are ridiculously bright, and unless you're happy with 15 hours of lab-like illumination, maybe try to put it somewhere else. It's difficult to cover and contain the light hence my suggesting it be put somewhere else - mine ended up in the kitchen.The pump is virtually silent - just a small trickle that is barely noticeable. It rather wonderfully directly pumps the water against the base of the pods for that consistent boost of nutrients and moisture.In terms of value for money - I don't think it is, at this point. The pods are expensive, the unit is expensive, and there's no real way for me to capitalise on the light, which I think is the real draw here. It chafes a bit to know that it can only go to a fixed height, thus limiting the kinds of plants I can easily grow. If it were to be detachable, then it would be easier to add plants around the base and distribute the light.All-in-all though, I paid to start the experience, and it's delivering so far. A good buy, if you can afford it.