Smoked Glass Garden Grown Kit - Long-term Option?

They really need to put a link for shop questions somewhere that people can find it. However, as you're here, and horticulture isn't particularly a strong point for the F52 staff (at least that I've ever seen), I'll try to offer a bit of insight. It will not be very practical to transplant out of these containers, as hydroponically grown roots do not adapt well to soil. This sort of planting is in the cruel, if not unusual, territory for most herb plants, but they're mostly tough and with reasonable care you should be able to get small harvests for some time. The common herbs fall broadly into 3 classes; the soft herbs, such as basil, parsley, chervil, cilantro etc. are annuals or biennials (which isn't as different as it sounds)- their nature is to flower, produce seeds, and die off. You can manipulate this to some extent, but it's best to replace them with new seedlings regularly- these pots are evidently designed to germinate seeds, so it shouldn't be too hard, and seeds are easily come by. Another group is the shrubby perennials- the thymes, rosemaries, oreganos etc.- by nature these plants are fairly long lived and will produce to some extent all year in a benign climate- there's no obvious limit to their life span, but I think you'll find it best to replace them from cuttings at least once a year- they all propagate quite easily. They can be grown from seed, but cuttings produce strong plants much faster and are more dependable for consistent quality. The third category is herbaceous perennials- tarragon, epazote, mint, wormwood- that by nature die down to rhizomes (ground stems) in winter and produce new green growth in spring. I'm somewhat curious how these will responds to hydroponic growing- they'll probably stay evergreen but are likely to overcrowd their pots fairly fast. In the garden they are generally divided in the fall by digging up and dividing the rhizomes (they reroot very easily) and you should probably do this with your plants occasionally. In short, you'll probably have to- or at least it will be best to-do some plant replacement on a regularbasis, but-as with people- the little ones are more fun anyway. If you have a space, I would strongly recommend an outdoor herb garden for much more production and higher quality; not to say don't grow the indoor ones- they're nice to have around, and convenient, particularly in bad weather. The plants are generally pretty cheap and grow quickly- nursery plants are grown in soil and won't transplant to hydroponic happily. For a few (dill and cilantro come to mind) transplanting tends strongly to trigger their flowering cycle and they are best grown by seed in place, but most will present no problems.

Hi Katie! So glad you reached out. Yes—these are a great long-term option, so long as you prune the herbs and are mindful of their size (i.e. something like basil, which tends to grow a bit bigger, could wind up requiring a transfer).