What Did You Do With Your AeroGarden Today?

Unpacked an open box, $62 (shipped) Harvest Elite 360 from eBay that arrived this morning.

Appears to be working after a quick plug in. I had to clean off some sticker residue (not AG) from the back side, which then exposed a small flaked area of the platinum finish. Nothing I'm worried over, as it won't be seen, but I did put a dab of clear nail polish on it to seal it down against further flaking. Then there was some AG tape residue on the bowl sides and top of the deck, so I got out the Goo Gone and dealt with that. And to be sure there's nothing chemically untoward left on the deck, I pried it apart and thoroughly washed it.

Not sure what I'll plant in it yet. I'll look through my seeds. It came with yet another Gourmet Herb kit. I'll likely save that for a later time.

Next, I need to haul the 2 Woot Bounty Basics downstairs. I want to get them set up and planted with something green, just to be sure there are no warranty issues while something can still be done about that.

Hubby, the NOAA weather forecaster, had me disconnect the hoses and cover our faucets yesterday, because "we are going to get a hard freeze, around 28F." Lowest it got was 36F ... so our volunteer cherry tomato out front lives on another day.   

Meanwhile, after the rinse and refill, my two Tatsoi plants are getting bigger every time I look at them! I harvested two lower leaves off the larger of the two and munched them right up. Delicious! Watercress is due for a rinse and refill, the light hasn't gone on yet, but it's day 14, so hopefully I'll get that done in a bit.

Yeah, I used to do that, too.   Unfortunately my "hiatus" from AGing made me forget everything I used to know.   So I'm having to re-learn through trial and error.   Lots of T&E going on. 

First, I watered all the gardens, all the little plants have been drinking, a good sign.

Then, I pH tested everybody. It was running really high on the Tatsoi, but the plants had not shown any signs of "suffering" yet, so hopefully caught that in time. Only a little bit high on the other gardens. I adjusted them and re-tested, all good now.

Then, I sanitized a Bounty bowl, still need to do a couple Bounty decks/pumps, which I don't look forward to. Also sanitized some old 2009 garden spacers, that had gotten algae on them. I wasn't sure it would come off, as it was where I couldn't get at it on the old-style spacers, but it went right away.

After which, I decided to plant the recent eBay open box Harvest Elite 360 ($62 shipped). I've put in two of my own pods (Arugula) and having found another AG "Mystery" salad greens kit, one pod of those. Might as well use them. Unit seems to be working fine and will provide a little extra light to the Tatsoi in the Harvest Slim next to it.

I'm looking forward to a very small, but hopefully tasty side-salad tomorrow. My Parris Island Cos is looking nice! I'm really glad I spaced them out and thinned to one plant per pod. Now they can grow more like normal lettuces. I might have to try a garden with only two lettuces, let them really go to town! The Tatsoi will be taking part in the salad as well. 

Would have harvested sooner, but have been sick for a few days, not much appetite or energy.

I am cleaning 2 Bounty decks today. Why the heck didn't they make the design a little easier to take apart? It's beginning to make me wonder if I did the right thing getting some extra Bounty models!

Hopefully, it'll get easier with time. My back doesn't like these kinds of epic struggles. The worst is prying that pump tower off!

It's as well I took them apart though, they really did need a thorough cleaning up. They are soaking in a big tub of vinegar now.

I haven't had the pleasure of taking the deck apart on the newer style Bounty. After breaking a deck (old style Bounty) and reading what you wrote I am somewhat gun-shy and in no hurry to take the new deck apart. I am hoping on not repeating my past incident.   

The main issue is getting the pump tower off.

The rest isn't easy, but it's an absolute breeze compared to the pump tower. I finally managed by inserting three blunt knives down into it to keep three tabs "mostly" disengaged, while using a spoon to pry at it, then pressing on the fourth tab. You need another set of hands, because once the knives are inserted, you need to use one hand to keep them "spread" and exerting pressure enough to keep the three tabs disengaged! Way easier said than done! I may ask hubby to help next time!

Sometimes you might not need to remove the pump tower, but because I'd just unplugged gardens and let them die, there were dried roots over everything that needed to be cleaned off. At any rate, it's easier for me to soak multiple decks if the pump tower is detached.

I'm glad it's done. I hope it gets easier with time and practice.

Be prepared to have the best damn bowl of navy bean soup you have ever tasted.

As the good Saint Fiacre of Breuil, the patron saint of gardeners, always preached -- Postquam scaliones habes, nunquam regredieris (Once you go scallions, you will never go back).