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You’re never too old to discover a new hobby, but you may not always have a lot of time to invest. If you’re looking for a low-effort hobby and you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, we’ve got just the thing. Gardening is a great hobby that lets you grow your own food and herbs while keeping you away from your phone and the temptation to doomscroll. Plus, gardens can be incredibly relaxing, especially if you like being surrounded by nature or you’re an avid gardener who finds peace in working with your hands. But not everyone has the space for a large outdoor garden.
Read more: Best Smart Home Gifts for 2024
If you live in an apartment or lack usable yard space, you can still create your dream garden indoors — just start with plant pods. They save space and require a fraction of the work that goes into maintaining a large outdoor garden. Indoor garden systems don’t need much light — some even provide their own — or a watering system to grow your harvest. You just have to be willing to put in the effort.
To find the best indoor smart gardens for every budget and gardening goal, we tested the top options on the market. Click & Grow comes out on top as the best indoor garden system we tested. We also found many other indoor garden systems to fit a variety of spaces, styles and budgets. Whether you want to grow a whole salad with your indoor gardens or just dip your toe into gardening, you can find the perfect indoor gardening system for your needs right here.
Most pod gardens are 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. 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 systems come with seeds, too.
To find the best smart gardens for 2024, we put several indoor grow systems to the test. Read below to find out more.
Best indoor smart gardens for 2024
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.
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The Smart Garden 3 lets you grow everything from arugula to thyme, including actual veggies like tomatoes and peppers.
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The Smart Garden 3 lets you grow everything from arugula to thyme, including actual veggies like tomatoes and peppers.
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The Smart Garden 3 lets you grow everything from arugula to thyme, including actual veggies like tomatoes and peppers.
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I’ve tried this very unit and it’s a perfectly sized smart garden for growing tasty 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 indoor 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 indoor garden system 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.
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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.
My favorite thing about the Ingarden is the simple sleek design made with only ceramic and metal and no plastic. Compact, clean and easy to use, it’s the perfect smart garden for someone dipping their toe into the best indoor garden game.
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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 (to help plants grow) 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.
My favorite thing about the Ingarden is the simple sleek design made with only ceramic and metal and no plastic. Compact, clean and easy to use, it’s the perfect smart garden for someone dipping their toe into the best indoor garden game.
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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 make an enormous difference. (I’ve actually had to cut back on the grow lights because things are growing too quickly.) Both the water pump and LED light rings operate on timers so there’s almost no weekly maintenance required.
It’s worth mentioning that the watering system makes a moderate amount of noise — akin to one of those Zen water fountains — for about 15 minutes every few hours. It was mildly irritating at first but I quickly adjusted and now I find it relaxing. The frame is also heavy once you fill it with water, so it’s not something to be moved often. It’s bulky, too, but when the greenery starts to bloom it adds a ton of life and atmosphere to any room. It’s still probably not great for a tiny home or apartment.
Pricing starts at $574 for the small indoor Farmstand, which holds 18 shoots, but you can add levels and increase the capacity to as many as 36 shoots. The optional ring lights kit starts at $399 for the small size. Starter seedlings are included, and it’s recommended that you replace them every few months.
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This is another hydroponic system, but one that is decidedly better suited for small spaces. 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.
It does carry a hefty price tag — $849, plus shoots — but the Gardyn is very efficient. Just ask CNET’s own Bridget Carey, who took the Gardyn for a lengthy test drive recently and had success growing fresh herbs, tomatoes and lots and lots of salad greens. Read her full review of the Gardyn smart hydroponic indoor garden for everything you could want to know.
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