I'm a gardener without a garden. Collecting tips for years into a big folder on how to cultivate the tastiest heirloom tomatoes to keeping slugs at bay. I've plotted a container garden for my zone but later was thwarted as there's only 3 hours of sun before the fog rolls over the 12'x12' shared spaced below my kitchen window. But unfortunately space and lack of soil keeps me from seedlings and harvesting.
As a result my shelves are filled with garden books including those by Gertrude Jekyll, the turn of the century English garden designer and writer (from a semester long course I ambitiously embarked on); the ever popular Golden Gate Gardening, (a must for the multi-micro climate of the area); books on creating a cottage garden (a dream...) and many garden-themed cookbooks such as Victoria Wise's Smith & Hawken Gardeners Community Cookbook. This cookbook is a reliable stalwart of practicality and bounty.
In flipping through the recent Sur La Table catalog I was thrilled to discover the AeroGarden. The hydrophonic system is 100% organic-based and grows 5 times faster than soil based set-ups. The system is based on NASA-tested aeroponic technology which allows for rapid food and crop production on earth and space.
While the whole concept is frankly a bit odd and star trekkian my curiosity is getting the best of me. The seed pods ($19) for the AeroGarden grow by feeding of of CO2 and other nutrients found in the air along with the pod nutrient packets. The entire system includes a grow-light and costs about $149.99 (links to ordering).
The salad greens kit contains 7 varieties of lettuces including green and read leaf and yields up to 75 dinner salads over a two to three month period. The herb pods contain cilantro, chives, two types of basil, dill, mint and oregano with continuous harvests for four to six months.
It's worth me experimenting with this gardentop system. It doesn't get much more locally-grown for a gardener at heart who's dwelling in an urban setting.
Based in San Francisco, Jeanne Brophy writes about the culture and history of food at World on a Plate.
