With a smart garden, you can grow fresh herbs and vegetables in your home, all year round. A small garden without soil in the kitchen is really beautiful in terms of design.
In addition to vegetables, we can delight ourselves with a rainbow of flowers thanks to the design of these hydroponics kits that guarantee us a successful debut in the world of interior gardening, both for decorative use and for growing foodstuffs.
What is the best smart garden kit?
The “smart garden” has revolutionized the process of sowing, maintaining and harvesting fresh vegetables in enclosed spaces, so it can be really easy to grow your own plants.
The technology associated with smart garden kits helps us to control the light, water and nutrient supplies required by the plants and can be programmed to let us know if they need to be recharged with any element.
If you are looking forward to cutting basil, lettuce or tomatoes just before preparing them, then check out the comparison we made with the best smart garden kits on the market, and maybe you’ll be ready to start right away.
1. AeroGrow Bounty Elite – Stainless Steel Indoor Garden
Grow your herbs in your apartment in a 100% organic and automated way with AeroGrow Bounty Elite. Supplied with natural growing medium and 9 varieties of organic seeds, this smart garden alerts you with an audible signal when your plants run out of water and need attention. Very simple to use, you just have to connect the garden, add water, sow the seeds and harvest The advantage of this small and intelligent garden is that it does not work with a growing capsule system, so you can plant the seeds you want To help it to discover new varieties that are not widely sold on the market, the brand offers you a wide selection of organic seeds.
2. AeroGrow Bounty Basic – Black smart garden
Hydroponic “smart garden” efficiently supplies the nutrients directly to the roots of the plants according to the growth phase, thanks to a silent pump that mobilizes and oxygenates the water to feed up to 6 capsules prepared for successful harvests.
3. AeroGarden Harvest Elite – Stainless Steel
Grow flowers or fresh herbs all year round. With LED lighting adjusted, it maximizes the photosynthesis of the 6 plants of mint, thyme, curly parsley dill, and Genoese and Thai basil that come with the kit. They grow quickly, naturally and without chemicals.
4. iDOO Hydroponics Growing System
Highly designed and easy to use, this little garden allows you to grow your favourite herbs without being a seasoned gardener. Intelligent, it is designed to give the impression that your vegetable plants grow in nature. This mini garden works with capsules, which contain organic seeds, soil and nutrients. Simply choose the seeds you want and insert the 7 capsules into the pots. Turn on the iDOO hydroponics growing system, fill it with water, and watch her grow!
5. Click and Grow Smart Garden 9 Indoor Gardening Kit
It comes with 3 basil, 3 mini tomatoes and 3 lettuce pods, but you can choose different refills. Ready for the germination of the seeds and the growth of the plants through efficient and almost effortless consumption.
6. Odyseed – indoor vegetable garden
Join the recovery of European seeds and shine preparing dishes with traditional herbal flavours almost extinct, with this cheap indoor vegetable garden, also automated so you can take your vacation without worrying about their care.
7. AeroGarden Sprout – Black Indoor Garden
This cheap kit adjusts its lights to cover the exact energy requirement of the plants according to each growth phase and regulates the supply of nutrients. Advanced hydroponics to fill our spaces with life.
8.Veritable Smart Indoor Garden Kit
This smart garden is designed for aromatic herb fans who don’t necessarily have the green thumb or the time to care for their plantations. Very easy to use, the garden is supplied with four ingots, to be placed in the different compartments of the garden. An ingot is ready-to-use potting soil already adapted to the shape of the compartment, which mixes soil, nutrients and seeds, with an optimal calculation for good growth. Simple gardening, as you only have to fill the water tank, place the ingots, adjust the light and wait for the young shoots to appear. Among the proposed ingots, you can choose between aromatic herbs (parsley, basil, chives), edible flowers.
What are smart gardens?
They are automated planters to guarantee the living conditions (light, water, nutrients) of the plants in enclosed spaces, and to facilitate the cultivation at any time of the year and by means of a minimum effort.
With intelligent technology, the entire process is supported to guarantee the success of any indoor growing initiative.
How does it work?
You can grow 3, 6 or 9 plants at the same time and it works all year round thanks to its intelligent irrigation and light system via led lighting.
The smart garden size will depend on the model chosen since they are indoor plants, and therefore you have to find an appropriate space in the kitchen, or even outside it.
The water tank is located at the base, and the capsules with the seeds are placed on top, which are arranged in a straight line or in a zigzag, depending on the model. And in the upper part, the LED lights provide the necessary light and temperature to grow in a fast and healthy way.
Their entire process is managed through the screen that they usually have, which will be like a personal trainer, advising when necessary to add nutrients or replenish water.
Benefits of smart garden kits
Let’s review the advantages of protected crops that support our desire to harvest fresh, healthy and safe food.
Clean hands and food
The passion for fresh herbs pushes us to dig in the soil to grow and harvest them without worrying about the dirty we must clean from our skin and our clothes, while hydroponics offers the same results without the cultivation of land becoming
They grow fast
Besides being plants superior in
Supply throughout the year
The indoor cultivation allows us to isolate the plants from the fluctuations of the exterior to avoid affecting the development of our edible garden.
Less maintenance
Once you have set up your kit to maintain your home garden, you only have to add nutrients to the system water to feed the plants.
Unlike traditional indoor gardening, hydroponics liberates plants from attacks by flying insects and other possible soil aggressors. If you are passionate about growing your own garden, you will know that planting on the ground leads to the growth of unwanted plants and certain beings that in a few hours can ruin our effort for weeks.
Less work
Indoor hydroponics is an alternative with excellent results and less effort.
Grow perfect vegetables
They can be grown at any time
If you love tomatoes and cultivate in your garden to enjoy such wonder, you will know that you will only have harvests at the end of summer and autumn; so try a smart garden and cut fresh tomatoes any time of the year.
Less pests
The risk for pests is latent in any vegetable crop, but an internal mini-garden is less exposed and makes it easier for us to maintain optimal conditions for plants to grow free of pesticides and insecticides, which we would surely have to buy if we wanted to grow them in the soil.
What can be grown
Each kit includes capsules to start growing from the first moment and includes, among others, Genovese basil, Thai basil, curly parsley, Italian parsley, thyme, chives, dill, mint and proprietary nutrients.
They are specially prepared seeds that can also be purchased separately. Each kit contains a container of nutrients to support plant growth and for a complete growing season.
However, they are not the only types of plants that can be grown in a smart garden, as it works for any similar plants or herbs that may be lacking in the home.
In short, it is an exciting option for those who do not have the space to grow this type of herb outside.
Buying Guide
The price of indoor smart gardens varies according to the number of plants and the options available: from £40 up to more than £350.
Number of pods
The first criterion to take into account is the number of plants accommodated by the vegetable garden, knowing that the smallest contain two and the largest receive up to nine. If you cook regularly and hope to spice up your dishes with fresh aromatics, growing two plants may not be enough. In this case, choosing a model accommodating 4 or 6 plants is undoubtedly more judicious.
Type of plants
Also, pay some attention to refills of plants. First of all, the available choice, which must correspond to your desires. Because if all the manufacturers have classic herbs in their collection (basil, parsley, chives, etc.), some offer more or less original plants. You should also know that the plants delivered with the vegetable garden vary: in some, all the plants provided are identical, which can disappoint if you hope to use them for cooking from the first harvests. In this case, order capsules or additional cartridges to vary the pleasures.
Price of pre-seeded plant pods
Also, take a look at the price of the pre-seeded plant pods knowing that “rare” plants are often more expensive.
Water tank
Some models are with a single tank, others have one tank per plant. If you hope to take care of it as little as possible, a single tank may be more suited to your needs. But above all, not all models have an empty tank warning system: essential if you are a little head in the air and not very careful with your plants. On some models, it is only a float placed on the side of the planter, to watch. On others, the alert is unmistakable since the LED ramps flash.
LED lights
All indoor smart gardens have LED lights to simulate the day and night cycles. These lamps are height adjustable to accommodate plant growth. Check if this operation is simple and suitable for you. On some models, it is necessary to add modules to lengthen the lamp when the plants grow, on others, it simply slides. Some models still have a variable lighting function, which automatically adapts to the brightness of the room. Finally, if entry-level vegetable gardens sometimes have basic LEDs, more elaborate models are equipped with LEDs dedicated to horticulture, promoting plant growth (the light spectrum is specifically adapted).
Vacation mode
Among the options, there are indoor gardens with a vacation mode or equivalent. It consists of regulating the supply of water and light to extend the autonomy of the water tank and slow down the growth cycle of plants during your absence.
Smartphone apps
Finally, some smart gardens have smartphone apps. This option promises to facilitate maintenance. The app provides advice on how to harvest aromatic herbs, how to cut them to promote optimal regrowth, how to use them in the kitchen. It also provides alerts when the tank is empty and allows the lighting cycles to be adjusted to ensure more or less rapid growth.
