Too Cool For School

Here is a great idea for an indoor, hydroponic herb garden. Spotted this on Gizmodo.com Great for those of us with a "brown thumb." And it doubles as a prep island. Cool. But with a $2200 price tag, too steep for my tastes. And it looks like it would supply far more herbs (well, cooking herbs anyway) than I could reasonably use.

A few years ago I got an "Aero Garden" for Christmas. This comes with a price tag around $200. I saw it in a SkyMall catalog (I know, I know...) and added it to my wish list on a whim. These are a countertop version of a hydroponic herb garden. I have the 7 pod. Of course, right now I'm growing herbs outdoors. But one of these days I'll get this back into production. It actually works just like the box says it does. Not great for when you need a lot of one herb (like parsley for tabbouleh) but works a treat when you just need a couple tables spoons worth. I usually have chives, thyme, rosemary, basil (x2), lemon basil, and cilantro in mine.

My New Herb Garden

It was a brilliant day outside today, and I spent the morning adding some slats to the fence in our front yard. Our yard abuts a parking lot so we wanted to restrict the view of it a bit more. When I was done I had lots of scraps from the cedar planking. I was wondering if I should save it when I had an idea. My herb garden (struggling in the heat and being eaten by insects) was in two 30" planters just on the ground by the front steps. I decided to use a few old 2x4s from the garage and the trimmings from the fence slats and make a kind of table for them. In part because I just bought a nail gun, and enjoy playing with my new toy! The table is 18" deep and 31" wide. I bought some cedar legs but all the rest was scrap lumber. I'm no carpenter but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Now if I can just get my cilantro to grow....