What if I told you, you could grow delicious peppers all year long regardless of your location’s temperature? Imagine fresh off the vine bell peppers or hot Thai chilies in the middle of winter! From your own garden! This is possible with an AeroGarden. What is an AeroGarden? How do I, and what can I plant in it? Can you grow peppers in an AeroGarden?
Yes, you can easily grow peppers in an Aerogarden system. Choose from their own selection of seed pods, including bell peppers, purple super hots, jalapeños, red fire chilies, and poblano peppers. Pop it into your AeroGarden and watch the plant magic begin.
Read on to learn more about AeroGardens, how and what to plant in them, and growing peppers.
What is an AeroGarden
Want to grow vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruits indoors but have no idea where to start? Does the idea of working with messy dirt put you off from wanting to set up an indoor garden? Well then, you need to meet the AeroGarden.
The AeroGarden is a soilless option for those who want an indoor grow house. Using hydroponics, a fancy way to say water, a grow light, and a specially formulated plant food, an AeroGarden grows most herbs, vegetables, flowers, and fruits from seed to harvest within 90 days!
How does an AeroGarden work
The AeroGarden removes the mess, guesswork, and risk of traditional gardening methods. Instead of using soil, fertilizer, and natural sunlight, the seed pods in an AeroGarden rest in water and get nutrients from a specially formatted plant food additive.
There is no need to worry about cold winter days where the sun doesn’t shine; an LED grow light is attached to each model. You can control the lights on your AeroGarden and even set timers for when they come on and off. This makes it less stressful to plan a vacation or time away from your plants.
How Do I Plant in An AeroGarden
Intrigued? We knew you would be. The first step when it comes time to plant in your AeroGarden is to pick a model. These range in size and price. All AeroGarden models essentially do the same thing, but some have nicer features like a more programmable experience or a taller grow light. If you plan to grow taller vegetables like tomatoes, you may consider getting a model with at least 12 inches of space.
Prep Your Seeds
The seeds for the AeroGarden come in prepackaged seed pods specially designed for use in your AeroGarden. With help from Miracle-Gro, AeroGarden created seeds for their seed pods that are non-GMO and ready to plant.
You can either go with an AeroGarden and Miracle-Gro brand seeds or use your own store-bought or heirloom seeds. AeroGarden sells empty seed pods for you to place your own seeds in. Plant two seeds in each pod. If both mature, snip the weaker seedling so the larger one can continue growing. If you are using a prepackaged seed pod, there is nothing you need to do.
Set Up You AeroGarden
Place your AeroGarden in its new home and fill it with water. Place the seed pods in the designated spaces, paying attention to what you are growing. If you are growing herbs, you can place them all right next to one another.
Tomatoes like a bit more space, so be sure to leave empty spaces around them. Peppers are okay with a crowd, but it is still a good idea to plant an herb like rosemary, basil, or oregano between each pepper plant. Set your grow light timer up to match the natural sun outside.
Most plants love at least 6-9 hours of sunlight. Some studies have shown that some plants thrive on an 18/12 schedule, which means 18 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. Give your plants adequate dark time to rest and repair themselves. Yes, plants do need a “sleep” cycle for optimal health.
Feed Your Plants
Depending on what you are growing, you may need to feed your plants more or less frequently. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, meaning they need more nutrients and more frequent feedings. Be sure to read the instructions on your AeroGarden plant food for proper application and execution.
The plant food that comes with your AeroGarden should only be used with your AeroGarden system, do not use it on other potted indoor plants, no matter how tempting it could be.
Harvest Your Veggies
You may be wondering how long it takes to grow plants in an AeroGarden. Luckily, an AeroGarden provides a quick growing experience, and with their seed pods, you can expect a harvestable crop within weeks!
Herbs and other leafy greens are usually mature enough to begin harvesting within two to three weeks, while tomatoes and pepper plants typically require 60-90 days. If you choose to plant your own seeds in the AeroGarden pods, you are looking at a slightly longer grow time with an average of 90-120 days from seed until harvest.
What Can I Grow in an AeroGarden
You can grow anything and everything plants in your AeroGarden! In fact, AeroGarden offers a “Grow Anything” Kit, which includes everything you need to start planting minus the seeds. Suppose you want to stay simple and use a prepackaged seed kit.
According their website, AeroGarden has over 120 prepackaged seed options, including herbs from around the globe, salad bar packs, cascading petunias, other flowers, and vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and more.
Final Thoughts
If you have ever wanted to bring the goodness of an outside garden into your home and be able to cook with your own fresh herbs and vegetables, the AeroGarden needs a spot on your counter! This quick, easy, and simple way of growing fresh food in literal weeks is too good to pass up.
AeroGarden took the guesswork and the mess out of indoor gardening and provided us with the option of year-round fresh produce. They offer over 120 seed pod options and even have an opportunity for you to grow your own seeds in their system. AeroGarden makes it easy to turn any kitchen into a farm-to-table experience.
Hi there, my name is Allie and welcome to my blog; GareningWithAllie!
Much of what you see written here is just our personal experiences with gardening. Along with the content I write here, there is also a unique collection of gardening topics covered by some of our close friends. I hope you find everything you read here to be helpful, informative, and something that can make your gardening journey the most lovely experience ever! With that said, Happy Gardening!