Lettuce Entertain You
As you may know from my previous blogging, I have an Aerogarden. A gift from my ever-so-thoughtful husband. Some time in January, I started it out with herb seed pods and now I have a flourishing herb garden (I transferred the herbs into pots when they got too big for the AG). Since then, I've started with the salad greens pod set and I have to say I'm loving the AG for salad greens. I've never had luck with lettuces outdoors - the pests were just too much for me to handle - so growing them in an AG is a perfect solution. I get fresh salads about every week with no pests!
I thought I'd share a little of my Aerogarden experience with you. If you've ever pondered getting one, I highly recommend it. Yesterday I noticed it was time to harvest again. So I snipped off all the fully grown leaves and ended up with a huge bounty for my lunch. I made my own italian vinigrette using equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice to act as a binder. I added to that some dried italian seasoning and shook it up. Dressing was ready! Then I snipped some parsley, red and italian basil from my herb garden, chopped them up and tossed the fresh herbs into the salad. Since I don't have any tomatoes yet, I ate the salad with just the dressing and herbs. I have to tell you there is nothing like fresh salad greens. The chickory added a nice spicy flavor and the arugula was delicious. The romaine and baby lettuce had just the right crunch. A perfect lunch! (channelling the ghost of Dr. Seuss? yup!)
As you may know from my previous blogging, I have an Aerogarden. A gift from my ever-so-thoughtful husband. Some time in January, I started it out with herb seed pods and now I have a flourishing herb garden (I transferred the herbs into pots when they got too big for the AG). Since then, I've started with the salad greens pod set and I have to say I'm loving the AG for salad greens. I've never had luck with lettuces outdoors - the pests were just too much for me to handle - so growing them in an AG is a perfect solution. I get fresh salads about every week with no pests! 
I thought I'd share a little of my Aerogarden experience with you. If you've ever pondered getting one, I highly recommend it. Yesterday I noticed it was time to harvest again. So I snipped off all the fully grown leaves and ended up with a huge bounty for my lunch. I made my own italian vinigrette using equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice to act as a binder. I added to that some dried italian seasoning and shook it up. Dressing was ready! Then I snipped some parsley, red and italian basil from my herb garden, chopped them up and tossed the fresh herbs into the salad. Since I don't have any tomatoes yet, I ate the salad with just the dressing and herbs. I have to tell you there is nothing like fresh salad greens. The chickory added a nice spicy flavor and the arugula was delicious. The romaine and baby lettuce had just the right crunch. A perfect lunch! (channelling the ghost of Dr. Seuss? yup!)
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Looks like something out of Walden Two. Iin other words, COOL! Can you grow tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteHi! Yep, I've got 4 kinds of tomatoes in the container garden right now. Roma, bunch tomatoes, Big Boy beefsteak tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. I started one of the Roma tomato plants in the Aerogarden as an experiment. There are tomato "kits" available for the Aerogarden, too. Lots of people like the AG for growing tomatoes because they flourish in the growing medium and because you never have to deal with the pest issues as you do with outdoor gardens.
ReplyDeleteI'm also growing a lot of different herbs including tons of basil, which go great in fresh salads. I started the basil in the Aerogarden, too. My first AG kit was an herb kit that came with Dill, Parsley, Purple Basil, Sweet Basil, Thyme and a couple of others I think. I transplanted them to my outdoor container garden because they were growing so well they took over the AG before I could consume them. You can, however, harvest and freeze or dry the herbs and store them. I just never got around to that. :)
I never thought of how "Walden Two" the Aerogarden looked, but you're right! It is so cool to have an affordable hydroponic system available to everyday consumers. I recommend the Aerogarden to any of my friends who live in cities where they can't grow fresh veggies. You can also grow strawberries in the AG!
Thanks for taking the time to comment!