Homegrown

Day one of the salad greens experiment.

This Christmas, we received a lot of great gifts from our family and friends, but we were particularly excited about the new AeroGarden we got from my dad. AeroGarden is an indoor hydroponic growing system - equipped with energy efficient grow lights. The contraption included two seed kits: one for herbs and one for salad greens. We decided to have our first go with the salad green kit. It has been, so far, a pretty successful venture, yielding a decent amount of greens in just four weeks or so. An added bonus: it's one of the few products I've ever owned with an infomercial.

Here's how this worked...

The plants sprouted up in just a day or two. This is what they looked like at the end of week number 1.

Two weeks in, starting to look like salad greens...

After just four weeks, we're ready to go.

Harvest time...

First taste test. The greens are just a bit spicier than expected, not quite arugula spicy, but they carry a bit more flavor than iceberg.

The first harvest... about one of seven plants worth.

The first dinner featuring our salad greens -- a salad featuring steak, red pepper, Parmesan, and homemade croutons.

...and as a condiment for an egg salad.