It doesn't matter what season it is, my gardening thumb is as black as a hockey puck.

In fact, I've never really had a piece of land to grow anything, and up to this point my attempts at indoor gardening have led to dried-up plants and a dead cactus (which I'm told is very difficult to kill).

But the need for greenery, fresh herbs and the occasional bouquet of flowers remains.

Enter the AeroGarden, aka The device that allowed an ice hockey-playing guy living in a downtown loft the size of a box to keep any type of plant alive without even trying.

This $150 self-contained unit grows fresh salads, herbs, tomatoes and flowers pretty much by itself. All you need is a space on the kitchen counter, a little water, electricity and about two minutes of time every few weeks.

And out of the box, you can expect to have something growing in about a week and on your plate just a few days later.

Each unit comes with seven pods with seeds already "planted" in a special foam. The selections range from a combination of fresh herbs, tomatoes, salad greens, chili peppers or petunias.

The setup is simple. Pull the unit out of the box and follow a short assembly list for the unit, which is 16 inches long, 10 1/2 inches wide and 15 1/2 inches tall at initial setup (the lights can be raised to 21 inches to let your plants grow taller).

Before plugging the unit in, the seed pods are inserted in the base. Then, fill the base up with water and drop in two all-natural nutrient tablets to help start your garden.

Plug it in and soon the sweet smell of victory, err, basil, will grace the air.

An internal, virtually noiseless pump circulates the water through each pod and a built-in timer makes sure the plants get the optimal amount of light every day.

And for those watching their utility bills, the company says the entire garden uses less energy than a 60-watt light bulb.

Every two weeks, lights on the unit will flash, reminding you to add water and more nutrients. Other than that, you don't have to worry about it.

To find out if this was as simple as it seemed, I went through two rounds of gardening -- first with salad greens, then with a set of chives, basil, mint, oregano and cilantro.

After about three weeks, I was taking scissors to my salad greens and tossing them with some toasted pinenuts, dried cranberries, shredded Gruyere cheese and a Balsamic vinaigrette.

About three months and a thorough cleaning later, it was time to place a $20 kit of new seeds in the AeroGarden. And cleaning up after my salad wasn't too difficult either -- pull out the old pods and rinse out the base.

One month later and I'm ready to harvest. I'll continue adding the herbs to dishes for the next four months or so.

While I confess there's been a glimmer of laziness in my past attempts at gardening, even I could manage the AeroGarden.

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FIND IT ONLINE: www.aerogrow.com

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