Aquaphoric Herb Garden Review
Fresh herbs are wonderful for adding flavor and color to a dish. I go through a lot of herbs and over the years tried different ways to purchase and store them. My idea situation is to have a variety of fresh herbs for whenever I need them with little maintenance. I am sharing different ways I purchase and store herbs that leads to a product review on the Aquaphoric Herb Garden Tub! (I do not receive compensation for this Aquaphoric Herb Garden Review.)
Buying Fresh Herbs
My go to location for fresh herbs is the supermarket. A fresh bunch of herbs typically cost between $1.00 and $2.00 lasting about 1 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator crisper drawer. And of course there are times when you need a bunch of cilantro for a recipe and they are out! Or the only option is the small plastic containers that are more money with a small amount of herbs!
To prolong its life I tried freezing and purchasing a special herb container to store them in the refrigerator. Neither option worked that well. The containers are bulky taking up too much precious room in the refrigerator and freezer. And out of sight – out of mind. I forget about them if they are not visible every day!
Purchasing Herb Plants
My next solution is to purchase the herb plants that you can find in the fresh produce area of the supermarket. They cost around $3.99 and last about 3 to 4 weeks. The plants are meant to be replanted in a proper container. After a few weeks of picking the herbs, the plant stops generating new growth and starts to die. Then sadly it is thrown into the garbage.
Herb Garden and Deer
In the summer we planted herbs in our garden. They did extremely well producing more herbs than needed. But I dislike going outside to actually snip a bit of herbs for dinner. And one day I saw the deer nibbling on the herbs and well that ended that experiment.
Researching an Indoor Herb Garden Kit
Now what? My options are running out. So I headed to Amazon and started researching my options. The cost of those little plants are adding up as I need a variety of fresh herbs! In a given year we easily spend over $100 on fresh herbs. My next step is finding a solution that is easy to use and low maintenance. I am notorious for not watering plants or over-watering them. There is no mid-road for me! Amazon provided quite a few options but one seemed fairly promising!
Aquaphoric Herb Garden Tub Planter
In December 2018 I received the Aquaphoric Herb Garden Tub Planter for $39.99. But as with many of my gadgets they get put away and forgotten about. Now that we are in our new homestead in the country, it is time to dust off the box and plant my herbs! My selection includes basil, flat leaf parsley, and chives. All were healthy plants bought a day before planting. Aquaphoric Herb Garden came with its own soil and watering system with a water level indicator.
Check Out the Results!
Day 1: Chives, Basil, Flat Leaf Parsley
Day 28
Day 1 Cilantro, Rosemary and Lavender
We purchased a second garden and planted cilantro, rosemary and lavender. Notice the cilantro plant is really small when planted. In a few weeks and a little fertilizer it definitely grew in size! Good thing because cilantro is a key herb!
Day 13
Aquaphoric Herb Garden Review Ratings
My overall rating is an A!
- Pros
- Easy to set up
- Watering system is easy to use
- Minimal effort on my part!
- After two weeks purchased a second herb garden tub
- Looks good in our four season room – bonus!
- Cons
- Minor problem is the watering gadge tends to stick to the side. But easily resolved by tapping the side with your finger nail
- Instructions are a little weak but it is pretty straightforward to assemble. Plus you have my review to help you.
Note: In a few months I will revise my review based upon the longevity of using the herb gardens.
Aquaphoric Herb Garden Instructions
Preparation Before Assembling Your Herb Garden
- Plant Selection: Purchase your plants. I recommend 3 smaller plants but consider how big and wide they can become. You will want a small, narrower plant by the watering hole for ease of adding the water.
- Plant Food: The soil does not have fertilizer so have some handy.
- Gallon Jug: Use a plastic gallon just to mix the water with the fertilizer.
- Work Space: Have a work area that can get dirty when planting your herbs.
- Location: Identify a nice location where the herbs will get some sunlight.
Open Up the Box
Lets take everything out of the box removing any plastic wrap for the water level indicator and planting tub. Leave the fiber disc in their packaging until ready to rehydrate. Directions are provided in an instruction sheet within the box and also with the fiber soil discs.
Assembling the Aquaphoric Herb Garden
Start with assembling the water level indicator. As documented within the instructions, there are four steps to assemble the water level indicator. Place the indicator into the inner pot. The herb planter tub has an inner and outer pot. Place the inner pot into the outer aquifer liner.
Aquaphoric Herb Garden – Fiber Soil Instructions
Now it is time to hydrate the soil discs before placing the soil into the planter. To accomplish this you need the soil discs, the large plastic bag that came with the unit, and 2 cups of warm water per disc. Unwrap the disc, place in the plastic bag and add 2 cups of warm water. It takes about 15 minutes for the disc to absorb the water and break apart. If the soil is too dry, it may require additional warm water. The disc slowly dissolves turning into the soil! Be sure to fluff up the fiber soil with your fingers by massaging the plastic bag. Once soil is hydrated add to the planter. We hydrated the three disc included with the planter and used 75% of the fiber soil. The left over soil was used with the second herb planter leaving us with one soil disc unopened for future use.
Pour Hydrated Soil into the Planter
Slowly pour or add the soil into the planter covering the bottom leaving enough room to add the plants. Make sure it is easy to clean your workspace in case you spill some of the soil. We used our sink for easy cleanup!
Add Your Herb Plants
Now the real fun begins! We add our plants. Remove the plants from their containers removing any loose soil. Some plants have tight roots so be careful to not damage the plant by removing the soil. See the below plants. One of our plants we could remove the excess soil; but not the other plants. And all our plants are growing beautifully!
Aquaphoric Herb Garden – Water and Grow!
Add water at the opening by the water gauge until the indicator reaches the top green circle or the “full” level. Refill when the indicator reads low or at the “refill” level. The soil does not contain fertilizer so be sure to add some! There is a draining plug on the bottom of the tub. Leave that plug in the container. If you are taking it outside then remove the drain so the rain water does not fill up the tub planter! Lastly, rotate the herb garden every few days to ensure both sides of the plant receives sun!
Interesting little gizmo! Since rosemary is a Mediterranean plant and needs little water and the cilantro needs more, how do you adjust for that?
You really cannot. There is only one water area. All you could do is be selective on what you plant together. But that is good to know. We will see how well they do together in the same container.
Hi, Bernice.
I’m fortunate to be living in San Diego County, where a lot of gardening can be done year round. 30 years ago my wife and I bought a 12″ Christmas-tree-shaped piece of rosemary from a local holiday tree farm. Today that has evolved into an 8ft x 8ft patch (which used to be 3x bigger). That and our oregano (in a very large piece of pottery) grow all year. We save the numerous cilantro seeds (some folks say it’s called coriander then– not sure). And the basil and lavender (another nice-size patch) can be reintroduced using cutting methods (which I found on Google.) Since watching a few food shows on tv, in the past five years I’ve introduced myself to cumin and dill weed. Yup! I love growing veggies (and other plants) as well as cooking. As always, love your posts.
Art
Wow! You are so lucky!!! Sounds wonderful! What do you do with your lavender. I purchased a lavender plant and now I am not sure what to do with it. Maybe potpourri! 🤣🤣🤣
So far I’ve taken cuttings from my ground growth and transplanted them into pots and set them about my back and side yards. A recent visit to a lavender farm informed me of the plant’s deterrence of mosquitoes, but its flowers really draw the bees ( which I’m glad, since I hear we’re losing bee populations.) I look forward to experimenting with making skin creams, etc (which I sampled at the farm. Haven’t checked on culinary uses, if any.
Art
After I got the lavender I wondered what to do with it. I look forward to hearing what you do with it. 😀😀
About how much water do you put in your Aquaphoric? I’ve used their system for a few years with other plans and recently got the herb box. I’ve put in at least a liter of water (probably closer to 2 liters) and the water gauge is not moving in the slightest (even when tapped or wiggled). Starting to wonder if it’s faulty or if it really takes that much water!
BTW, just found your site today and LOVE it! I’m off to look at the stir fry post!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I tend to add 4 cups of water to the Aquaphoric. And I always need to tap the gadge with my nail. In the summer months I am filling it a few times a week!!