As the weather cools down and it becomes harder for plants to thrive in the cold, indoor gardening becomes an attractive option. It gives you more time, spares resources and gives you the space to garden. If that sounds appealing, there are plenty of indoor pod gardens that are low-maintenance and apartment-friendly. These garden systems generally require very little light -- some of them even have built-in LEDs -- and watering to grow your own herbs, veggies, flowers and more. Click & Grow makes the best indoor garden we've tested, but there are a plethora of other models to fit your space and budget.
Most pod gardens, including Aerogarden Bounty Elite and the Click & Grow Smart Garden 3 are extremely user-friendly. Plus, most models are small and light enough to be moved around the house. Bigger indoor garden units -- Lettuce Grow Farmstand and RiseGarden -- take up more space but can hold as many as 36 plants at once. You'll also find options for special indoor gardens for growing microgreens and others that emphasize style and simplicity over complex mechanisms and mobile app integrations. Many of these garden system options will even come with seeds.
To find the best smart gardens for 2024, we put several indoor grow systems to the test.
I've tried this very unit and it's a perfectly sized smart garden for growing essential herbs like basil, mint and chives and salad greens. It couldn't be simpler to operate, with self-contained seed pods, LED grow lights and a water tank that needs filling only every two or three weeks. A perfect starter herb garden for someone with a not-so-green thumb.
This Click & Grow Smart Garden 3 comes with three basil pods, but you can buy any number of salad greens, fruit and vegetable seed pods from the website for about $3 each. With room for just three plants, this particular garden is a little small to grow much in the way of vegetables, so best to stick to herbs and lettuce. There are loads of flower pods, however, if your gardening goals are more aesthetic.
There are several larger Click & Grow models, all of which function in the same manner. These include the Smart Garden 9, which can hold nine seed pods, and the multilevel Smart Garden 27 which holds, you guessed it, 27 seed pods.
The AeroGarden Bounty Elite Artisan is a relatively compact indoor gardening system that, out of the box, manages to make room for nine plants of your choosing -- the options range widely from herb mixes to tomatoes, peppers and flowers.
As the plants grow, the adjustable LED light stand can grow with them, up to 24 inches in height. Plant food is included, as well as an optional trellis system, which is designed to accommodate tomatoes and other plants that need support as they grow.
Ingarden
A nutritionist might tell you microgreens are a vastly underused source of nutrition. As a bonus: They're rather easy to grow at home. Ingarden is a new sleek smart garden designed to do just that and it's compact enough to fit on your windowsill or bookshelf.
The Ingarden is completely soil-free but wicks water up into three seed pads that sit above a reservoir. LED grow lights under the handle run on a timer and keep the microgreens growing -- and they grow fast. You'll have sprouts in a few days and full-grown microgreens like mustard, radish and broccoli in about a week to sprinkle on salads and sandwiches, and into sauces and soups.
Smart Growhouse
The Smart Growhouse is one of the more basic indoor gardens on this list but we love it for its stylish brass exterior. It doesn't hold seed pods or self-water like some of the others, so you'll have to manage that part on your own, but there are full-spectrum LED lights that operate on a timer for optimal growth. That means you can display the garden anywhere in the house and not just near a window.
Admittedly, the $240 price tag is hefty considering the low-tech nature of this indoor garden. But if the classic copper finish could enhance your motif, it might be worth the extra money.
Rise Single Hydroponic Garden
If you're looking for a stylish indoor garden that blends effortlessly into your living space, the Rise Single smart hydroponic garden is a good pick. This self-watering garden is completely hydroponic, meaning there are no soil pods to handle. It comes with a 5-gallon water tank and LED grow lights, all of which are controlled and monitored through an integrated mobile app. The water levels, light settings and nutrient levels all have built-in sensors that report back information to keep things humming.
The Single smart garden houses up to 36 plants, and you can add levels to increase the shoot capacity for a steady supply of fresh herbs, greens, flowers and even tomatoes.
Lettuce Grow Farmstand
I've personally used this indoor/outdoor farmstand and can tell you it's well-designed and easy to operate. The Lettuce Grow Farmstand works by pumping water mixed with nutrients up from the base, so that it cascades down over seed pods that are stuffed into the walls. I had this going for a few weeks indoors and without lights and while some shoots did fine, many died. Enter the LED ring lights, which made an enormous difference. Both the water pump and LED light rings operate on timers so there's almost no weekly maintenance required.
Chef'n Microgreens Grower
This little guy is designed especially for microgreens, which are great for garnishing soups, salads and other fancy recipes. It's always nice to have a pop of green on the kitchen counter, and this gadget doesn't take up much space at all. The microgreens garden kit consists of the planter, soil and seeds for your first round of plants, all for under $30.
Unlike the Ingarden, this model has no LED lights so you'll have to keep it in direct sunlight most of the time.
Gardyn
This is another hydroponic garden option, but one that is decidedly better suited for a small space. The Gardyn upright grow system houses as many as 30 plants but takes up just 2 square feet. Individual shoots are watered via the tank and pump, which circulates water on a timer. Built-in LED lights -- also on a timer -- trigger that sweet, sweet photosynthesis. The Gardyn system self-monitors with sensors and actual cameras so you don't have a ton of work to do other than cleaning and refilling the tank every month or so.
While it does carry a hefty price tag -- $849, plus shoots -- the Gardyn is very efficient.
Originally published in CNET
