When the seed catalogs come in over the next few months, many of us turn to them for relief from depressing winter days. In Boston, this winter has been especially brutal with heavy snows and cold temperatures. It can drive you a bit stir crazy. So when pictures of spring and fresh produce arrive in the mail, it's not surprising that so many avid gardeners and sun lovers practically drool on them.
 
Well, it's time to stop drooling. That great looking produce you see in the seed catalogs can be grown inside your home with the AirFarm.
 
Now there are practical exceptions, and for some crops you simply have to wait for spring. Crops like garlic and potatoes are some examples for which soil is probably best.
 
However, many of the fun crops like tomatoes, lettuce, peas, cucumbers, and herbs can easily be grown even in a small apartment. In this article we'll look at the top three crops that even a newbie can grow with AirFarm.
 
Basil: Sometime in the last decade, basil's popularity seemed to have intensified. The herb is best known as the dominant flavor in basil pesto. Pesto used to be used just as a pasta sauce, but today it is commonly found on gourmet pizzas, sandwiches, broiled fish, vegetables and a myriad of other foods.
 
And, it is the basil component and the quality of oil that differentiates a good pesto from a great one. Pesto made with fresh basil is much brighter green, and has a complex minty taste. Processing pesto or prolonged storage causes the color to turn brownish and much of the flavor to disappear.

During the peak of winter, this much fresh basil would
easily cost over $30 (in the Boston area supermarkets), but you can grow
it yourself for a tiny fraction of that.
 
Basil comes in both green and purple. The purple is beautiful, but the plants are generally not as productive as the green ones.
 
 
Leafy Greens: Grown yourself and freshly picked, lettuce, mustard greens, even spinach are a fun foods to eat.

Fresh leafy greens, grown in an AirFarm
 
Good supermarkets often sell a fancy mixture of small leaves from different plants, known as mesclun. Typical retail prices are between $5 and $8 a pound, and you guessed it, they can be grown yourself for much less.
 
 
Tomatoes: If you like tomatoes, you already know the difference between homegrown tomatoes and the greenish, flavorless, waxy ones you see at the supermarket. The AirFarm will let you grow any kind of tomato plant.

 
Here we are growing a variety that produces sweet, golf-ball sized fruit. However, you can certainly grow a full-sized tomato plant, such as a Beefsteak. The AirFarm includes a PVC trellis that gives your plant room to grow.
 
If you don't have lots of natural sunlight, the preferred technique to grow full sized tomatoes is to take a 4' florescent shop light fixture and mount it vertically (up an down) to a wall. Place the AirFarm a few inches away from the fixture and then surround the light and the AirFarm with Mylar, tin foil, or white poster board to reflect the light back to the plant. Tomato plants love light. The more light, the faster they grow.
 
If you have questions about this article or the AirFarm, please send them to info@microfarm.com.
 
And please, don't forget to visit the MicroFarm shop at www.microfarm.com.
 
Thanks for reading!