![]() ![]() (The company also makes a popular six-pod model, found below.) I preferred it to the Click & Grow Smart Garden 3, which I’d had for about a year - the AeroGarden Sprout is smaller and less expensive, and the garden has fewer problems with algae and mold. For gardens that require extra work, we’re also evaluating whether the extra work translates to an increase in output and quality.Ĭapacity: 3 to to 24 pods | Microbe management: Includes all-purpose fertilizer and pump | Maintenance: LowĪeroGarden’s smart garden, first recommended to us by George Pisegna, deputy director and chief of horticulture at the Horticultural Society of New York, checks all the boxes: It’s compact, comes in a range of sizes, contains a pump and comes with fertilizer, and produces a prodigious quantity of herbs even in the three-pod model I tested, the brand’s smallest. Higher-maintenance gardens do offer more control and versatility, which may be appealing for experienced gardeners - plus, they tend to be cheaper in the long run than models with more automation. That consideration includes setup time - which, in my experience, can range from just a couple of minutes to a two-hour wild-goose chase trying to connect a grow house to an app - and clear, easy-to-follow instructions. ![]() We’re favoring systems that make plant care as straightforward, foolproof, and stress-free as possible. ![]() Still, no product can entirely eliminate the need for maintenance, whether that’s refilling a water tray or cleaning out a smart garden between uses. Indoor-garden kits simplify the process of growing plants by automating or streamlining things that are labor-intensive, messy, or nonintuitive, like sticking to a watering schedule or monitoring light levels. There is a tradeoff between more automation and less customizability, but even the lowest-maintenance options on this list will vastly expand what you can grow in your kitchen. It’s too much for me maybe I would have graduated to grow lights and oxygen pumps eventually, but I love having an indoor garden automate out some of the work. Hard-core plant people love the control offered by the latter, but it can be a barrier to entry for the casual kitchen gardener. Hydroponic growing can be as simple as drilling holes in a food-grade plastic tub, filling it with a fertilizer solution, and waiting (if you’re curious, that’s called the Kratky method), or as complicated as choreographing a system of grow-light timers and fertilizing schedules customized for your plants’ needs. Many indoor gardens use a form of hydroponics, the practice of growing plants’ roots in nutrient-fortified water instead of soil. “The roots of herbs are somewhat simplistic. (The best strategy I’ve found to avoid this: Trim the herbs’ stems like flowers, place in a cup of water in the fridge, and cover loosely with a large Ziploc bag.) I’ve tried growing herbs in pots with limited success: “Generally, city kitchens do not have the full sun required to keep herbs alive,” says Sera Rogue, owner of Brooklyn gardening company Red Fern. As a heavy herb consumer, I hate spending money on a sad bundle of grocery-store mint that wilts within a couple days. An indoor-gardening kit is a great insurance plan guaranteeing that you’ll always have access to fresh herbs, plus any other produce with a short harvest-to-wilt window, like lettuce and flowers - you can pick your greens minutes before you use them.
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