AeroGarden Pro200

The AeroGarden Pro200 is sleek and attractive, runs quietly, and took about 10 minutes to unbox and set up.

AeroGrow (the company that makes the AeroGarden line of products) recently dropped the prices on all the AeroGarden models, and with free shipping this purchase was a great deal. Plus, the unit arrived with two freebies that we weren’t expecting:

The AeroGarden Herb ‘n Serve – a very cool, battery-operated salad dressing and marinade maker. Works like a small blender, just add fresh herbs, oil and vinegar, blend and serve. Comes with a booklet full of recipes for dressings made with your freshly grown AeroGarden crops
Herb it up! – a 2-inch thick binder full of recipes, tips and techniques for using your AeroGarden herbs, organized by cuisine (Tuscan Italian, Mediterranean, South of the Border etc.) and by food type (Poultry, Seafood, Beef & Pork, Pasta & Rice etc.)

Neither of these items was advertised as bonus gifts when we placed the order, so it was a really nice surprise to find them when the box was opened.

click on photos to enlarge…

Everything that came in the box: AeroGarden PRO200 unit, Herb ‘n Serve,
Recipe book, and Aerogarden catalog

Herb ‘n Serve Salad Dressing & Marinade Maker

Herb it Up! Fresh Herb Cooking for Everyone recipe book

Opening the AeroGarden Pro200 box, we find everything well organized and tightly packed for shipping:

The AeroGarden unit: base, bowl, lamp arm, hood
three grow light bulbs
the Master Gardener Kit (to sow your own seeds)
a Gourmet Herb kit (pre-seeded pods)
a quick-start guide to setting up the unit

Once everything was out of the box, set up was very quick: Insert the bulbs, assemble the unit, fill it with water, add seeds to the pods and label them, choose the grow setting, drop in the nutrients, and done. The only thing left to do is to set the timer for the lamp at the time you want the lights to go off.

A note about labeling the pods: The set-up guide says to use a dry iron to affix labels to the grow pods. Instead, we used used a little bit of white glue on the rims of the plastic pod baskets. The glue is standing up to plant growth and humidity just fine.