Last Christmas Bryan’s sister gave me an unusual and really fun gift for Christmas: an AeroGarden. It’s a plug-in indoor all-in-one system that allows you to grow herbs anywhere in your home with virtually no effort at all. No sunlight needed! I plopped in the seed pods in January, and within 6 weeks, I started getting endless amounts of basil, chives, and parsley.
The plants did really well, and survived until early October. 9 months is pretty impressive, especially considering what a black thumb I have with most plants.
One struggle I had with the original system was the nature of the herbs that came in the basic pack. I don’t use that much parsley or chives in my daily cooking. The basil I used the most, but the others were difficult to use up, and I found myself pruning the plants without eating them way too often.
Earlier this month, I was contacted by AeroGarden to consider trying out their Gourmet Seed Pack (and also hosting a giveaway!). I was intrigued by the gourmet seed pack, which includes the three basic herbs I had grown before, but also included Thai basil, cilantro (Bryan’s favorite!), dill, and mint.
I knew Bryan would have no problems eating the cilantro. I thought the Thai basil would be really useful for making Vietnamese spring rolls or maybe pho? My first stint with the AeroGarden went really well, and it would be pretty amazing to have cilantro on hand all the time, so I agreed to try it out again.
This contraption is super easy to set up. After connecting a few pieces together, place the seed pods that you want to grow into the holes. I picked Genovese basil, Thai basil, and cilantro.
Add water.
Place the little plastic domes on top, and turn it on!
There is a fluorescent light that shines on the plants. You can control when it turns on by plugging it in at the time you want it to turn on. It will automatically shine for 12 hours and then shut off for 12 hours.
It’s still early, but I just checked after 4 days, and the Thai basil is already sprouting! Aren’t they super cute? I can’t wait until they get big enough to harvest!
Giveaway!
I am giving away one Prize Pack which includes:
- 1 AeroGarden product with seed pods
- herb infuser
- a gardening cookbook
- berry bowl
- a cutting board with a prep station
To participate in this Giveaway, please comment below letting me know your favorite herb to grow indoors and how you would use it all year around. Giveaway ends December 19, 2014 December 18th, 2014 at midnight EST.
Disclaimer: this post was sponsored by Miracle Gro, owner of AeroGardens. Miracle-Gro also supplied me with my own AeroGarden 3, the gourmet seed kit, and they are providing the prize pack for the Giveaway. All opinions are my own.
I would love to grow cilantro all yet round to put in salsa! I wouldut this in my classroom that has no windows.
Fresh cilantro! 🙂 Love it!
My favorite spice is cilantro. I put cilantro with everything. Sometimes I just eat cilantro by it self.
I feel like I buy cilantro and parsley weekly and end up throwing most of it out. I’d love to grow at least one of them all year round so I can stop wasting herbs!! One of my favorite ways to use cilantro is to make salsa verde and incorporate it into a green chile mac and cheese.
i would grow thyme. Love the idea of one especially since my outdoor plants are done!
Not sure if this counts as an indoor herb, but I love growing Chinese chives. We use them in noodles a lot!
My favorite herb to grown indoor would be cilantro because I love just eatting it plain, with rice, in soup, mix with noodles.
Basil all day every day. I spread pesto on everything.
Rosemary for me! Rosemary just tastes amazing in everything: rosemary fries, rosemary roasted sweet potatoes, rosemary chicken, rosemary garlic toast, rosemary omelette, rosemary olive oil dip… Just started growing rosemary myself but my plant has unfortunately met its demise so this would be so perfect!
I love cilantro and put it on burritos, rice bowls, or just eat it straight up!
cilantro. with shrimp
I love growing basil. My favorite type of pizza is margherita so it’s always nice to have fresh basil on hand for an impromptu pie!
My husband and I have been making lots of salmon lately and would love a ready supply of dill in the house.
How can I pick? I use a ton of parsley, cilantro and rosemary and would love to have any, or all of them available during the year (moved last year from the PNW to Boston and had to give up my outdoor space and herbs).
I love cooking and just moved into my own apartment, so this would be perfect! I would go for a lot of basil (thai or otherwise) and cilantro.
I would love to have fresh cilantro year round, we use it on everything
This is such great idea! My current apartment has no light 🙁 and this system would let me have fresh herbs! I use cilantro and basil all the time, for salads and in pretty much everything I make- it would be awesome to have a steady supply.
mint 🙂 with chopped oranges and a touch of honey 🙂
I would grow basil! Basil has a great holistic property to it! It’s has tons of antioxidants and is considered antibacterial…help keep the cold and flu away!! And it makes delicious tea!!
I use basil on almost a daily basis so that would be the first that I would grow indoors since I am constantly buying plants.
I also use oregano, thyme, cilantro, rosemary, and peppermint, spearmint, and a few others in my daily fresh salads (I eat a fresh salad for breakfast and lunch because I find them so delicious). I also use fresh herbs as often as I can when cooking dinner for my family because the flavors are so much more intense. Having a fresh supply year round would be fantastic, especially here in Seattle where our growing season is short and most of my outdoor plants just froze in the first big freeze of the season.
I’m facing the same proplem Jennifer! I always bought a bunch of fresh herb and most of it wind up in my trash can since I use them a lil’ amont at the time what a waste! So I always dreaming of indoor kitchen herbs garden. My most favorite herbs are Basils (since I’m Thai so I use it so often) and also Italisn basil, chives, green onion and Cilantro oh I for got Culantro!
Indoor-grown cilantro for homemade rice bowls and pasta would be lovely–
I’ve been debating one of these for so long! I live in a basement apartment that doesn’t get a lot of light. One of these would be perfect!
I use a lot of fresh basil and cilantro in my cooking, so it’d be nice to grow it and not have to buy it!
Eee! So exciting! I’m glad they actually work as they’re meant to!
Flat leaf parsley. I love the freshness it adds to dishes. I use it in everything but especially love it in salads. My favorite summer salad has grape and cherry tomatoes, garlic, and parsley (all from our CSA at the height of summer) dressed simply with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I hate to admit that I sip the leftover juices at the bottom of the empty salad bowl. Delicious!
basil for spring rolls!! also love putting chives in the meat for dumplings too 🙂
Mint!!
I’d grow basil! It’s so nice to be able to put fresh leaves into whatever you’re cooking, instead of relying on the dried version. I’ve grown Italian basil before, but given the choice I’d grow Thai basil, since I love to cook Thai and Vietnamese food.
I loooooovveeeee cilantro! I fail at growing it. I love it on my rice (Chipotle style!) and in my noodles and in my summer rolls and guacamole and salsa. It’s delicious in everything!
Cilantro goes in everything!
I have been wanting one of these for awhile! I would grow thyme, rosemary, mint. Yum.
Cilantro! Just started making my own cilantro pesto…
I’d use cilantro most, but would love fresh rosemary & thyme to make believe I’m in France once I shake the snow from my boots.
I like basil but my husband would probably like cilantro for salsa!
I would grow basil. I use it all year in everything. It’s a universal herb. It can brighten a salad, something grilled, pasta, egg dish, tomato dish, cheese etc. etc. Add some lemon juice and olive oil and you have a meal!
I love basil! Love using it to make pesto, or to add as a garnish on top of pasta dishes.
I would looove to give it a go, i have the smallest home and there is no space for potted plants, it would be awesome to add fresh herbs to breakfast omelette, maybe some chives, cilantro? Also great for soups and stir fry
I would love to try this contraption at home. Cool!
you never can go wrong with basil.
i would use basil in homemade spaGhetto sauce. I’ em been wanting one of these for my science classroom!
cilantro! I always feel bad for wasting Some when I buy a big bunch at the grocery store
Cilantro! It’s definitely the herb I use the most.
Cilantro or basil for me since I use them quite often and thyme for Jason… He has been experimenting with cooking and uses thyme quite a bit’
It’s hard to say which is my favorite herb as I like to use a variety of them– but probably it’s basil. Its heady perfume can fill an entire kitchen, especially Italian basil or the Ligurian variety, that I’ve seen growing in enormous terracotta vases outside restaurants. Fresh basil can energize an entire batch of tomato sauce, so summer is its key season, of course, when tomatoes and garlic are in abundance. The three together are a match made in heaven… But basil works fantastically well chopped up and sprinkled over a bowl of winter minestrone, made with borlotti beans, pancetta, pasta tubes, celery, zucchini, etc. Just smelling basil makes me instantly hungry! In spring, fresh basil pesto with pine nuts, parmigiano, pecorino cheese, green olive oil, is delightful with linguine. Cook the pasta the Genoese way, with a small potato or two and some green beans; then toss everything with the fresh pesto. Amazing!
I would use Basil all year long in just about anything from soup to nuts!
I love cilantro too! What a great idea for growing herbs.
basil, basil and more basil!
Thyme and basil!!
Chives, Sage and Parsley
My favorite, by far, is fresh basil. My husband would say cilantro.
I love herbs. I’m quite the parsley fan, especially in pasta dishes and any time I have Pho soup it must have cilantro.
oh, i want this so bad. thai basil ftw!
Basil all the way. I love it for home made sauce, pesto, and caprese salads!
Definitely Thai basil. I can’t ever find it in a regular grocery store and always want to put it in 3-cup chicken and scrambled eggs, and Stirfry black bean clams!
basil! pesto year round would be fantastic.
BASIL. BASIL BASIL. It works with so many things, pho, stirfry, italian dishes it is a must, even eggs!
Thyme and cilantro in everything
Basil. I throw it on any pizza, pasta, or any italian dish.
Cilantro! Works for salsas, in soups and stews, on pastas! Especially love cilantro lime rice. Yum.
Definitely thyme, which I love to use, along with Rosemary, year round!
Basil. It grows like a weed and needs minimal care.
I would grow mint. I love using fresh mint in my Vietnamese Summer Salad/Rolls, mint syrup for my Mint Sweet Tea, and in refreshing Mojitos.
Cilantro is at the top of my list because when you buy a bundle at the store, it doesn’t last very long. Having a fresh garden in the kitchen with cilantro would be a dream come true. 😉 I love making guac!
Can’t find my original comment, but I would want Thai basil, since it’s hard to find and I need it for my scrambled eggs, 3-cup chicken, and black bean sauce clams!
Cilantro, definitely. I use it in everything from beans to rices and stews and soups!
Definitely cilantro! It’s essential in so many Asian and Mexican dishes.
Basil! I love cooking pasta sauce!
I wish I could grow green onions.
My favorite herb is basil! I would use it to make homemade tomato sauce, and pesto!
Taiwanese Basil…my father likes to make Taiwanese Three Cups (San Bei) everything he can get his hands on.
It’s a close call between cilantro and basil, but I’ve got to go with Basil. I use cilantro in more dishes probably but nothing beats a fresh homemade pesto – pasta, pizza, or even just to dip bread in I love it all year round.
This sounds perfect. I have been wanting to start an indoor herb garden. Its too hard to choose. Definitely sweet basil, mint and cilantro. Thyme and oregano would be nice as well. I like all herbs! Do they have pods that you can plant more than three in?
Mint!
Hmm, it’s either between cilantro or basil but I’ll go with basil. Nothing like fresh basil on tomato and mozzarella cheese. Yum!
Basil…I simply adore pesto!
Wow – a lot of cilantro fans here! Sadly, I am not one of them… I think I’d most like to grow basil or chives. As well as rosemary, thyme, dill & parsley. We don’t get a lot of light in our apartment, so every effort I’ve ever made to grow herbs indoors has ended in sadness. I have actually apologized to a basil plant when I brought it into our hom, knowing it would not survive for long once it was under my care. :s
I’d grow basil! I think I would be able to use that the most.
Thai basil…great for Thai curry and three cup chicken!
Cilantro! Obsessed with salsa! Looks like a fun way to grow!
My favorite herb is basil. I’m asian, but I love to eat pesto all year round. Pesto goes well with everything…bread, pasta and even fried rice.
any kind of basil, used in pesto and ratatouille and other eggplant dishes…. sigh
I would love to have cilantro available to make more sauces with or to use in a vietnamese style stirfry! Thanks for hosting the giveaway 🙂
That looks so cool! I would grow cilantro year round. Nothing fancy but cilantro is delicious in guac, banh mi, as a garnish for soups, and pretty much everything.
Would love to grow basil cuz it’s so fragrant!!
Since I live in China and cilantro is easily available at any wet market while Thai basil is more readily available, I would love to grow Italian basil, parsley and thyme. Basil and parsley for fast cooking pasta dishes. Thyme for roasting chicken with lemon.
Basil! Pasta pasta pasta! 😀
Narrowing it down to one….hmmmm….basil, cilantro, lemon thyme, rosemary? I’m going to go with basil. I love the versitality of basil. I would make sauce, spring rolls to strawberry basil bread.
Cilantro! I use it for everything – Mexican, East Asian, Indian cuisines…I love you, cilantro!
I have a small basil plant and I love it! All it needs is a little water and light and we have basil for pasta 🙂
Oh goodness, I’ve only tried basil and that died after 2 days! In theory, I was going to make pesto… 😛
My favorite herb to grow indoors is basil and I use it all year around in my pasta dishes, like my spaghetti and meatballs.
As a biologist I love plants and I love to Cook Thai dishes, they contain a lot of interesting and spices with addictive flavors. For this I need some herbs I am always cautious to buy imported from uncertain sources because you never know if they are contaminated with pestizides. Therefor I usually grow during summer the herbs I need and love. Unfortunately I can’t grow them during autumn and winter.
I grow Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) Thai Sweet Basil and Coreander
Rosemary for roasted potatoes and basil for clams. Drooling as I type this. :)..
I love basil. I like all the varieties and have been trying to grow the little prepotted basil plants for sale in grocery stores. They usually die, and never grow into big bushy plants that I can clip off for cooking but I continue to buy them hoping they will grow into mature plants that have so many leaves to be clipped off whenever I need basil in a cooking recipe. I follow the minimalist directions that comes with the little potted plants…”put in a sunny place and water when needed.”
I recently moved to an apartment that has a window with a wide sill. I consolidated the three (still living) basil plants I bought in 3″ pots into one 8″ pot .. the resulting basil plant hasn’t died completely, but it’s grown leggy, and grown flowers on the end of its stems that eventually dry up.
Its leaves droop when I hadn’t paid enough attention to it, so I water it and it perks up. It keeps growing but the leaves closest to the pot die and drop off before I can clip them.
I think I’m supposed to cut the plant back at certain nodes …I should but don’t do tough love.
The healthiest leaves appear at the end of 18 and 24″ stems…It competes with my spider plant and my philodendren for space on the window sill and gets tangled with the other plants, but doesn’t look like a bushy healthy plant or grow big healthy leaves like the potted basil plants I’ve seen on cooking shows where the chef just clips off the leaves he needs in the studio kitchen to make a perfect gourmet dish.
I’d really like to try the aero garden giveaway with it’s specific design and directions for indoor herb growing and controlled lighting schedule… right now the basil that I ‘m attempting to grow indoors feels like I’m trying to play a herbal musical piece on the piano without being able to read the “growing herbs indoors” musical score.
When I was a child, I took piano lessons for 5 yrs until I heard Erroll Garner’s “concert by the sea” album and upon finding out he didn’t read music, I promptly quit practicing and stopped going for piano lessons …unfortunately I wasn’t a jazz genius with Garner’s improvisional skills,so now I can’t play piano at all.
I’m willing to get help growing basil and other herbs with an aero garden since I’ve found out my fingers not only can’t play piano, but my thumbs aren’t green either.
I’ve only had the chance to grow basil but am looking forward to growing other herbs!
Cilantro for sure. I love to make guacamole 🙂
It would be a tie for me – between rosemary and cilantro. Forced to choose, it would have to be cilantro.
Like you I have no luck growing my own. Would love basil and parsley for chimichurri! Trying To make a boozy one with adding some cilantro lime vodka
I love Thai Basil. I use it in pasta, wontons, salads, just about everything I can think of!
I would definitely grow cilantro for the Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches I make frequently as well as for my Thai and Mexican cooking. I would try to grow chives and thyme as well. Not sure this would work for rosemary, but I have a big and thriving rosemary plant in my garden already.
Definitely Thai basil but I would also love to grow Vietnamese coriander (rau ram) and Shiso leaves. They are not readily available in most non-Asian grocery stores so it would be a huge time saver to be able to always have it handy. This gadget would be great for a NYC apt.!
I think basil would be pretty easy, but rosemary or thyme would be popular as well!
lemon balm is calming for my kids so I let them eat a leaf to get them calmer!
Basil. My wife loves it in salads and with chicken.
I also love parsley in my potato salad.
I would definitely grow cilantro- I love it on my steam fish, noodle soups, and sandwiches.
Mine is Basil
I would grow thai basil and use it on everything! Vietnamese noodles, Italian pasta, Caprese salads… yum!
I would love to grow basil, parsley, and cilantro. I have had no success with the little windowsill pots.
My favorite is basil and I use it. In pestos, and pizzas, and pastas.
Basil- Being Italian, it seems that I use about $20 a week worth of basil. This would be great. I have difficulty maintaining my supply when it gets cold in Houston.
My favorite is cilantro! There are many others which are great, but cilantro is my must-have.
I like Basil for basil mayonnaise, sandwiches, and other food items.
My favorite is basil. We frequently make chicken pesto pizza on Friday nights so I would love to grow basil in the Aerogarden so I could make fresh pesto all winter long.
Oregano! I use it to jazz up nearly everything! Are you enjoying the new AeroGarden so far? Any major differences between models?
I would love to grow fresh mint for iced tea and other things!
I would love to grow basil and cilantro! I live in a cold climate and I can’t grow herbs outdoors.
I would love to grow basil and dill!
I’d given up on gardening since moving into an apartment in wisconsin. It’s cold and I don’t have any outdoor space to grow anything! This would be a lifesaver!
I just started growing veggies indoors, I would love to extend my newly created indoor garden to include herbs as well. I plan on growing herbs like basil as well as medicinal herbs as well. It would be nice since the grocery store that is here doesn’t have any kind of fresh organic products.
I’d love to grow basil. We’d use it all year round to have herbs right in the kitchen.
I would love to grow Cilantro and basil, we use a lot of both.
I would love to have fresh herbs all year round, especially cilantro
My favorite herb is Cilantro and would use it all year round in many of the south of the border recipes I cook as well as use it in my homemade salsa. I also would freeze dry this herb to use all year round if I were growing something else in the Aerogarden at that time.
I love so many herbs, it is hard to choose. I think mint is one that I use all year around, I especially like it in iced tea or infused in water and it is wonderful in salads, stirfries, casseroles, desserts and heavenly in ice cream!
I am going to grow lots of basil to cook one my favourite things – PESTO!
I like Thai basil.