Aerogarden Growing Tips

By Tami Parrington, eHow Contributor

1. Indoor container gardeners have to follow many of the same rules as outdoor gardeners, but also have unique situations to work with and learn about. The AeroGarden is a small container-based garden for indoor planting that uses the principles of hydroponics to produce vegetables, herbs and flowers. You will get more out of your Aerogarden if you learn all you can about the best ways to use the unit.
Leave Enough Room
2. Don't use every single pod in a vegetable AeroGarden when you have larger plants like tomatoes or peppers planted. If you can't stand the idea of leaving unused spaces in your small container garden, plant smaller crops such as lettuce, herbs or scallions in the empty pods between the larger plants. This method works especially well with crops like lettuce that prefer the slightly cooler, shadier atmosphere provided by the taller tomatoes and peppers.
Transplanting to an Outdoor Garden From AeroGarden
3. To use your AeroGarden to start big plants like tomatoes or peppers and then transplant them to an outdoor garden space, make sure you give them plenty of time to acclimate. Plant your seedlings from your AeroGarden in a slightly larger container that you can move in and outdoors for a few weeks; put them out in nice weather and bring them in at night and in cooler weather. Once they are "hardened" to the outdoor temperatures for a couple of weeks, plant them in the ground garden plot.
Pruning
4. The limited size of the AeroGarden container makes it a good option for people who need to grow their plants indoors or want to keep a small garden in their kitchen at their fingertips. It also means plants need to stay manageable in size. Pruning shoots by pinching the tips of new growth at the tops of large plants like tomato and peppers keeps them from growing too big, or getting leggy, and promotes larger crops of flowers on the lower areas of the stems.
New Starts
5. You can reuse your AeroGarden over and over for new plants, or change the types of plants in your garden regularly for a variety of vegetables, flowers or herbs. When you do restart your AeroGarden, be sure to clean the unit well, discard any old plant materials, and always change the water in the reservoir and put fresh water in the unit. This will help ensure your new plants get the best, healthiest start possible, and also keeps pests and plant diseases from spreading to new plants.