No outdoor space to garden? No problem. With a well-designed indoor garden system to fit your space, budget and needs, you can grow and enjoy fresh veggies, herbs and flowers year-round with minimal setup and maintenance. Most indoor gardening kits starts plants from pre-seeded pods and include grow lights, timers and self-watering containers, so even novice gardeners will see great results.
For small spaces, the AeroGarden Harvest Elite (about $135 on Amazon) is a great way to grow up to six fresh herbs anytime and is small enough to sit on your counter. The hydroponic growing system includes LED lights with a customizable timer and comes with six ready-to-grow pods of herb seeds. A digital display reminds you when to add water or plant food.
Another winner for small spaces, the Miracle-Gro Twelve Indoor Growing System (about $190 at Home Depot) doubles as an end table. The app-controlled automated system can grow up to four plants at a time, with a reservoir that holds up to two gallons of water. The system doesn’t include pods, so choose your own seeds or seedlings.
Click & Grow Smart Garden 9’s (about $230 at clickandgrow.com) soil-based system waters itself automatically and also includes growing lights. The kit comes with nine complimentary biodegradable plant pods, but dozens of other options are available. The PRO version (about $290) offers all the same features plus an app so you can manage your garden from your phone. At about two feet long, this system requires slightly more space, but won’t dominate the room.
If you dream of a wall of produce, the Gardyn hydroponic system (starting at about $500) stands more than five feet high and about two feet wide, but at a relatively shallow 12 inches deep, can be tucked against a wall. This splashy setup is a fully automated vertical hydroponic growing system that fits 30 plants at a time, with LED grow lights, sensors to monitor plant health and a five-gallon tank, along with a mobile app. Plants are grown in pods called yCubes, and for an additional membership fee, you’ll receive 10 additional yCube plants each month and round-the-clock plant care from a virtual AI assistant.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska
