21st Century Tomato Growing

[Diane]

Hi Everyone! I decided to invest in the latest in useless (almost) gadgetry and grow tomatoes the new way. Basically my patio is now so shaded by large trees (The neighborhood is now 29 years old) that I have no room to grow tomatoes the old fashioned way. So I got a special offer on an AeroGarden and decided to try it. So follow along as I attempt to grow 3 cherry tomato plants in this new fangled contraption with no soil.


It came in a big box. Inside the big box was a medium box. Inside the medium box was the unit and a bunch of little boxes. Even a mechanical dumkoff was able to assemble it in about 2 minutes. So here is the unit:




After filling with water and the nutrient tablets, the unit does everything else, runs the water, turns lights on and off, tells you when to add more water, more fertilizer, etc. And it has programs based on the type of item you are growing. This fall I am going to try seed starting in it with the start you own seed kit that came with it.

Here, after 5 days, are the results:





And here they are without their little domes:




So off we go on the adventure. I will thin the seedlings shortly to one per pod. I will update the thread as things progress, and we will see if I get those lush looking plants like you see on TV!