flapper girls & indoor gardening
Mar. 8th, 2011 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I wanted to show you the flapper girls series that I was talking about yesterday. It was a commission and she's only done 8 of 12, but aren't they awesome?
Liana Hee's Flapper Girls
And here are a couple of others that I like:
Have you guys heard of the AeroGarden? I recently got the 7-pod version and set it up a couple of days ago. I'm ridiculously excited about it. One of the things that I've always wanted was a proper herb garden, one where I could just cull fresh herbs to use whenever I needed them (buying fresh herbs is expensive, inconvenient, and inefficient). Unfortunately, the weather here doesn't really allow for a good herb garden outdoors -- I tried to make one this year, but over winter everything but the thyme died (poor beautiful marjoram plant /cry).
That means an indoor herb garden, which many people have, except I've kind of got a brown thumb, especially with indoor plants. I wanted a fool-proof solution, and AeroGarden seems to be it. They use this special NASA-tested aeroponic technology that enables you to grow stuff quickly and compactly on your countertop. You can do everything from tomatoes to herbs to flowers, but I don't know why you would grow flowers this way. I think it's perfect for herbs, because you can grow a bunch of different kinds (depending on which AG you have) and they're all in their own little pods, so there's no danger of an invasive plant like mint taking over.
Unfortunately, it's not an inexpensive solution. It's more about the convenience and the ability to have fresh herbs on hand. That's why I don't understand using an AG to plant flowers or cheap things like lettuce. Not only do you have to buy the appliance, you're also supposed to replace the grow light bulbs every 6 months, the seed pods don't last forever, the plants require nutrients, and it takes electricity to keep the thing running (the bulbs are on 16 hours a day).
It's sooooo easy though. You just set up the appliance (which was simple), stick the pods in, fill it with water, and put in some fertilizer. You press the button until it reaches the type of plant you're trying to grow (in my case, "Herbs"). Then every 2 weeks, it'll remind you to refill with water and fertilizer. That's it. And the plants should grow happily as if by magic. (If you're curious about how it works, you can search for AeroGarden on YouTube, there are lots of vids and I think explaining works better visually.) I just have to hope that Jaime doesn't find it/take a liking to it and start eating them. I thought about growing catnip in it, but that's just asking for trouble, lol.
My one beef was that, when you buy the Aerogarden, you get to select one seed kit that's included with the appliance. I chose "Gourmet Herbs." The problem was that I wasn't able to select which herbs exactly that I wanted. The kit comes with whatever it comes with, and I think it differs based on season and availability. So I got a few herbs that I didn't actually want (such as dill and two kinds of thyme), instead of ones I did want (such as marjoram and chives). My plan, once the provided seed kit materials run out, is to get after-market DIY pods (or figure out a way to make them myself) so that I can use my own seeds. For the nutrients I figure any kind of liquid fertilizer will do. You can always buy more seed kits from Aerogarden, and when you do that you CAN specify which seeds you want, but it's kind of expensive ($20/kit). Plus some herbs are unavailable, period, but I'm assuming it's the ones that are notoriously difficult to grow from seed (like rosemary).
Liana Hee's Flapper Girls
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And here are a couple of others that I like:
Have you guys heard of the AeroGarden? I recently got the 7-pod version and set it up a couple of days ago. I'm ridiculously excited about it. One of the things that I've always wanted was a proper herb garden, one where I could just cull fresh herbs to use whenever I needed them (buying fresh herbs is expensive, inconvenient, and inefficient). Unfortunately, the weather here doesn't really allow for a good herb garden outdoors -- I tried to make one this year, but over winter everything but the thyme died (poor beautiful marjoram plant /cry).
That means an indoor herb garden, which many people have, except I've kind of got a brown thumb, especially with indoor plants. I wanted a fool-proof solution, and AeroGarden seems to be it. They use this special NASA-tested aeroponic technology that enables you to grow stuff quickly and compactly on your countertop. You can do everything from tomatoes to herbs to flowers, but I don't know why you would grow flowers this way. I think it's perfect for herbs, because you can grow a bunch of different kinds (depending on which AG you have) and they're all in their own little pods, so there's no danger of an invasive plant like mint taking over.
Unfortunately, it's not an inexpensive solution. It's more about the convenience and the ability to have fresh herbs on hand. That's why I don't understand using an AG to plant flowers or cheap things like lettuce. Not only do you have to buy the appliance, you're also supposed to replace the grow light bulbs every 6 months, the seed pods don't last forever, the plants require nutrients, and it takes electricity to keep the thing running (the bulbs are on 16 hours a day).
It's sooooo easy though. You just set up the appliance (which was simple), stick the pods in, fill it with water, and put in some fertilizer. You press the button until it reaches the type of plant you're trying to grow (in my case, "Herbs"). Then every 2 weeks, it'll remind you to refill with water and fertilizer. That's it. And the plants should grow happily as if by magic. (If you're curious about how it works, you can search for AeroGarden on YouTube, there are lots of vids and I think explaining works better visually.) I just have to hope that Jaime doesn't find it/take a liking to it and start eating them. I thought about growing catnip in it, but that's just asking for trouble, lol.
My one beef was that, when you buy the Aerogarden, you get to select one seed kit that's included with the appliance. I chose "Gourmet Herbs." The problem was that I wasn't able to select which herbs exactly that I wanted. The kit comes with whatever it comes with, and I think it differs based on season and availability. So I got a few herbs that I didn't actually want (such as dill and two kinds of thyme), instead of ones I did want (such as marjoram and chives). My plan, once the provided seed kit materials run out, is to get after-market DIY pods (or figure out a way to make them myself) so that I can use my own seeds. For the nutrients I figure any kind of liquid fertilizer will do. You can always buy more seed kits from Aerogarden, and when you do that you CAN specify which seeds you want, but it's kind of expensive ($20/kit). Plus some herbs are unavailable, period, but I'm assuming it's the ones that are notoriously difficult to grow from seed (like rosemary).
