Following on from our previous blog about problems that can be caused from using hard tap water for your aerogarden…

However, most spring, well, softened or very “hard” waters have high dissolved-mineral contents that can cause problems when used in an AeroGarden. High dissolved mineral content or strong pH can interfere with the proper uptake of the AeroGarden nutrient/pH-buffer tablets by the plants, which can prevent or delay germination of seeds, severely stunt growth, and cause “chlorosis”, or yellowing of the leaves.  This will be a problem for aerogardeners using tap water from a “hard” tap water area. You can find a map giving a rough guide to locations of hard tap water areas in the UK here… http://www.dwi.gov.uk/pubs/hardness/index.htm#4

So-called “hard” water has a high dissolved calcium and magnesium content, and is the tap water that we get here in London.The high mineral content of the water can cause an excess build up of mineral deposits or limescale that could damage your pump, as well as the other problems listed above. 
 Most home water filters, do not remove dissolved minerals. They are designed to remove contaminants such as organic solvents and chlorine taste, but dissolved minerals generally occur as tiny ions which are too small to be filtered out. Distillers remove minerals, by heating, vaporizing and re-condensing water and leaving the mineral deposits behind. Pure distilled water works well in the AeroGarden, provided it is within normal pH range.The easiest alternative is probablt to use inexpensive bottled “drinking” or “distilled” (preferably not “spring” but this is ok as long as it has a low mineral conent) water instead, which has a low mineral content is available at most supermarkets. One of our customers, Alex has used Ashbeck Mountain Spring Water, available from Tesco, and reports excellent results with faster growing, healthier plants.If you do use a bottled mineral water in your aerogarden, be sure to do a rinse and refill every couple of weeks to prevent a build up of minerals. Here are instructions for a rinse and refill. 

I’m sure we’re all enjoying this Great British Summer of rain and cloud, but for your aerogarden nutrients, if not to us, the weather can be hot enough to make them sweat. Don’t be alarmed if your pack of nutrients arrives a bit soggy, there’s no harm done and as our American supplier tells us, this is perfectly normal.
(Some sweaty nutrients from our warehouse)

Another point to note – as with our warehouse in Wimbledon, the area you live in may have hard water from the mains, and may not be ideal for growing an aerogarden. The high mineral content of hard water could damage the aerogarden’s pump and hinder optimal plant growth, so to get around this we recomment using distilled tap water.
We’ve also some interesting emails documenting the exploits of some of your fellow aerogardeners. Nikki Anderson from London, came to us with puzzlement as to who had been nibbling at her parsley, before discovering…
“The parsley thief is definitely a mouse - I found some droppings behind the Aerogarden this morning. He’s been nibbling away at the basil too!!! We’ve had pest control people in the building, they put down traps with poison in the flat but haven’t caught a thing. So now I’m bringing in the big guns - REAL mousetraps laid with a dollop of peanut butter, not these namby pamby plastic boxes. The fact that the mice have gone for our Aerogarden is a declaration of WAR and they’re going to lose!!! ;-)”
 So beware of losing out on your harvest to the attack of the mice. And beware to all mice who dare to cross an aerogardener by the looks of Nikki’s email.