Having an outdoor garden doesn’t always work with your living situation or lifestyle. The best indoor herb garden makes it simple and easy to garden inside of your home, making them a great gift for plant lovers as well as for the person in your life without the greenest of thumbs.
Whether you are a new gardener looking for a non-intimidating introduction to growing your own food, an urban gardener with no access to outdoor space for a garden, or an experienced gardening enthusiast interested in the latest and greatest trends and technology, indoor gardening is a fun and exciting way to grow food in your own home.
In this list, we will go over the best indoor herb gardens available in 2023.
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1. RUNNER-UP: AeroGarden Bounty Indoor Hydroponic Garden
Pros:- Easy to use touch panel controls
- Full spectrum 40 Watt LED grow light
- Programmable light cycle
Cons:- Not suitable for root vegetables
- Premade seed pods are pricey
- Grow lights can seem annoyingly bright
The AeroGarden Bounty is the perfect mid-sized automatic hydroponic garden for your home. You can grow up to nine plants at one time, all up to 24 inches tall thanks to the supremely adjustable LED grow light on the top. This garden system has a high efficiency 40 Watt full spectrum LED grow light system with a 15-hour timer that helps to maximize photosynthesis, resulting in rapid, natural growth and a more abundant harvest.
Wifi-enabled and Alexa compatible, this garden allows you plant, walk away, and enjoy fresh produce in a matter of a few weeks. Don’t believe us? I bought one for myself after years of wanting one, and I was picking lettuce within 21 days! This AeroGarden has lots of intuitive new features including a three-step water level indicator and easy quick plant set up.
It also has an easy-to-use, simply designed color touch screen that makes setting up your garden a breeze. It allows you to choose between different crop options, and lets you decide when your grow lights are illuminated and off. you can also dim your grow lights at the touch of a button. The touch screen alerts you when it’s time to add water or enhance the water with more fertilizer.
It comes with a selection of artisan lettuces that are absolutely delish, plus a three-ounce bottle of all-natural plant nutrients, which is enough for a full season of plant growth. You can also get AeroGarden pods for all kinds of other veggies from lettuces to tomatoes and more. And if you want to plant your own seeds (I just did basil, dill, and Swiss chard) you can reuse the little planting baskets and simply buy new AeroGarden planting sponges and plant food.
Don’t want to go through that much work? Amazon’s AeroGarden storefront has seed pod kits for all sorts of yummy produce and flowers, plus many other AeroGardens of different sizes.
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2. Best Large Garden: Gardyn Indoor Vertical Garden
Pros:- Only two-square foot
- Award-winning
- Fully automated and app-controlled
- Can use your own seeds
Cons:- Pricey
- Some features require membership
- A pain to reassemble
The Gardyn Indoor Vertical Garden was named Good Housekeeping’s Best Smart Indoor Garden two years running (2021 and 2022) as well as one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2020. When you think of home smart gardens, you probably think of AeroGarden, but when it comes to the garden that is really pushing the limit, we have to mention Gardyn.
This hydroponic garden is designed vertically so there is space for more plants (30 of them) while taking up significantly less space than traditional horizontal gardens. A pump waters each plant using the water in the reservoir at the base. It also uses unique vertical lighting so each plant is equally close to the LED lights.
But it not only supplies water and light–it’s also WiFi-enabled with a smartphone app where you can view and adjust your light and water schedules. When you opt for the monthly membership, an AI-run assistant, Kelby, uses built-in cameras and multiple sensors to monitor your plants 24/7 and alert you via their app if anything needs to be adjusted.
Kelby will send you an alert when your tomatoes have flowers, for example, and offer advice for the best way to pollinate them. That sort of thing. The membership also unlocks email and phone support with plant experts and 10 included plants of your choice shipped to you each month. That said the membership might be a little pricey for some at just under $39/month if you pay month to month. (The price goes down if you pay annually or biannually.)
It comes with the first 30 seed pods included but you can also use blank pods to choose whatever seeds you like.
Find more Gardyn Indoor Vertical Garden information and reviews here.
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3. Most Minimal: Click and Grow Smart Garden 3
Pros:- Top of the line design and functionality
- Three plant capacity
- Ideal for herbs and strawberries
- Pesticide free gardening
Cons:- Not enough capacity for a family
- Pods can get expensive to replace
- Relatively expensive
If you’re looking for a cheaper Aerogarden alternative, this smart garden from Click and Grow is an ideal indoor hydroponic garden. It features a stylish Scandinavian design and three pods total to grow your home vegetable crops. The kit comes with three plant pods to get you growing right away, but you can get lots of pods with your preferred veggie or herb choices. You can choose from exterior colors in grey, black or white.
This smart garden is completely hassle and maintenance-free. All you need to do is place the pods in their holders, fill the water reservoir, and plug the garden in and your plants will start growing automatically. After you harvest your lettuce, tomatoes, or basil you can choose from over 40 pre-made pods, or experiment with adding your own seed.
This garden also comes with a growth guarantee – If your seeds do not germinate, they will replace the pods for free.
Find more Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 information and reviews here.
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4. Most Unique: Back to the Roots Self-Watering Planter & Betta Tank
Pros:- Symbiotic ecosystem
- Kids will love it
- Includes fish, food, and dechlorinator
- Growstones instead of dirt
Cons:- Not for large plants
- No light included
- Doesn't include heater for betta
Get something that plays double-duty as garden and pet with Back to the Root’s Self-Watering Planter. The planter and three-gallon fish tank create a symbiotic environment in which the used water from the fish is pumped up to cycle through the roots where the plants use it as fertilizer and then return cleaner water back to the fish tank.
The fish feeds the plants and the plants clean the fish tank. It’s a neat system.
It has three slots for plants using Growstones as their growing medium which allows for support of root development without dirt that could muck up your fish tank. The size is more suited to smaller plants or batches of microgreens.
The setup comes with the tank, Growstones, stones for the fish tank bottom, microgreen seeds, water pump, and a coupon to send away for a betta fish along with included betta food pellets and water conditioner. There’s even a little feeding hole on top of the planter to make feeding simple and quick.
What it doesn’t include are grow lights so you’ll want to make sure you have a spot with indirect sunlight (you don’t want to cook your fish) or pick up some separate grow lights from the information at the end of the article.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you’re in a colder climate, betta fish need a tank heater to keep from freezing in the winter. You can sneak a cheap mini betta heater in there and be set.
Find more Back to the Roots Self-Watering Planter information and reviews here.
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5. Best For Microgreens: ingarden Microgreens Garden
Pros:- Ceramic and steel instead of plastic
- Colors to choose from
- Automatic LED grow lights
- Only needs to be watered once a week
Cons:- Supposed to use their seed mats
- Not for larger plants
- Some complained of germination issues
A lot of home smart gardens aren’t set up to grow microgreens because their pods are narrow and deep instead of wide and shallow, but that’s where ingarden Microgreens Garden comes in. This eco-friendly company skips the popular plastic design of most home gardens and goes with a ceramic base, stainless steel seed holder, and steel arch which holds the automated grow lights.
Instead of deep pods, it comes with flat sheets of a biodegradable wicking material (a little bigger than a playing card) that are studded with microgreen seeds. These lay flat on the holders and suck up the water in the tray for a hydroponic microgreen growing medium. The tray only needs to be refilled once a week and by then your seeds should be well on their way to being ready to harvest.
It’s a really beautiful piece that is equal parts function and form. It’s available in four different ceramic colors: mint, jet black, rose, and cream beige.
The set includes seven non-GMO, organic seed mats with plants like alfalfa, mustard, kale, cress, and radish. Seed mat refills can be purchased in a variety of different sets in one-month supplies. The design isn’t meant to allow for you to be able to use your own seeds but I’d wager you could attempt a workaround involving your own seeds and a stack of carefully cut paper towels to act as the wicking and rooting medium. Not 100% sure it would work, but worth a shot.
There might even be enough spaces for some small fairy garden decor.
Find more ingarden Microgreens Garden information and reviews here.
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6. Most Stylish: Spigo Indoor LED Light Grow Garden
Pros:- Easy to set up
- Water reservoir and grow lights
- Good for small spaces
- No pods to deal with
Cons:- Very small capacity
- Expensive for the small size
- No plants included
If you want just a small automatic indoor garden that can easily fit on a kitchen counter or other small space, this little system from Spigo is just the thing for you. The compact system has an arc of LED lights that lets you grow fresh herbs, flowers, or succulents easily and with no hassle. It has an automatic timer on the light for eight hours of white light, eight hours of grow lights, and eight hours off.
Below the planter section, there’s a built-in reservoir for water that they advertise as being enough that you only need to water every 30 days. There’s also a water gauge so you never have to guess when it is time to refill.
Find more Spigo Indoor LED Light Grow Garden information and reviews here.
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7. High End: Aerospring 27-Plant Vertical Hydroponics System
Pros:- Design feature
- Huge space for growing
- Can use your own seeds
- Indoor-outdoor
Cons:- Too big for many
- Pricey
- Need assembly
- Seeds started outside of planter
Looking for a garden that will wow guests and make you feel like you’re living on a futuristic space station with your very own mini biodome for growing food? Check out Aerospring. It’s a bigger chunk of change to throw down than most other gardens but it’s an entire home decor feature in itself and has top-of-the-line technology to grow 27 plants at once with minimal watering.
The vertical garden makes use of aeroponics which uses air to help promote growth faster and requires less water than pure hydroponic systems. Between that and its 20-gallon water reservoir, you probably won’t have to refill the water tank too often.
The hexagon is surrounded by six automated LED grow lights and to maximize growth, the tent panels can be zipped closed to help keep all that light inside where it’s of most use. The inside of the tent is a light-reflecting bright white to bounce light back to plants and increase growth up to 30%. This is also a great perk if you want to keep all that light from making the room too bright for comfort.
If you’re in a warm climate, you can even remove the tent section and place the unit outside.
The downsides are the size as you need to find room for a 74-inch tall hexagon with a 34-inch width, the fact that it can be tricky and take time to assemble, the higher price tag, and that seedlings should be a couple of inches tall before being placed into the vertical set up. Most people who want a smart garden aren’t looking to have a separate sprouting area but if that doesn’t put you off, you’ll love the overall effect of this one.
Find more Aerospring 27-Plant Vertical Hydroponics System information and reviews here.
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8. Best for Produce: AeroGarden Farm 24 Plus
Pros:- LED height is independent
- Room for 24 pods
- Three sizes of models
- App-controlled customization
Cons:- Expensive
- Purchasing seed pods is pricey
- Reviewers noted poor customer service
The AeroGarden Farm 24 Plus is the ultimate all-in-one automatic indoor garden. This smart garden offers more pod capacity at 24 pod slots, more yield, and more flexibility to customize the system to your specific needs. It comes in either a 12-inch, 24-inch, or 36-inch grow height depending on the type of plant you plan on growing.
I love that Aerogarden Farm has independently adjustable lights so that you can grow shorter plants like greens and herbs next to taller plants like tomatoes or peppers in one garden system.
This system has WiFi enabled so that you can control things like lighting schedules and reminders for feeding and watering from an app on your smartphone or tablet. You can even take one-touch photos and post them instantly to social media. There are also options to customize your lighting and opt to have your grow lights fade in and out to mimic a sunrise and sunset.
I’m featuring the mid-sized 24-inch version but you can get a slightly shorter 12-inch AeroGarden Farm or the narrower (only 12 pods) 36-inch version. In my opinion, the 24 Plus is the sweet spot.
Find more AeroGarden Farm 24 Plus information and reviews here.
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9. Best for Kids: Mini Indoor Garden/Bluetooth Speaker Combo
Pros:- Mini planter with light and water
- Clock, speaker, and humidifier
- Most affordable option
- Good pick for desks or bedrooms
Cons:- Not for bigger plants
- Requires soil
- Small watering opening
Not everyone has room for a large auto garden or even just a uni-tasker in general but this Mini Home Garden Combo can do a lot more than just grow some fresh herbs for your pasta. The compact little pot is self-watering via a cotton wick, has an automated LED light with two brightness settings, an ionic air purifier function, Bluetooth speaker, alarm clock, and humidifier.
That’s a lot for a little USB-powered pot and makes it well worth the price whether it’s for your office or a gift for a teen or young adult.
Plant stuff first. The LED light has an adjustable angle so it can be used for the plant or tilted to help light up whatever you’re working on. There are two brightness settings and has several preprogrammed schedules. The pot is designed to work with soil (bring your own dirt and seeds) and has a rope wick that dips down into the water reservoir underneath, drawing water up when the soil dries out.
The water in the reservoir is held separate from the plant and when the humidifier function is turned on, it’s passed through a filter and emitted as a mist to combat dry air. The interface has a digital clock with an alarm function.
As a Bluetooth speaker, it’s workable. It says it’s high fidelity sound–I highly doubt that, but it’ll play music and that’s substantially more than most plants can say. It also claims to have an ionic air purifier in the light which seems odd but this whole thing is a little odd.
Find more Mini Indoor Garden/Bluetooth Speaker Combo information and reviews here.
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10. Most Flexible: GrowLED LED Indoor Garden
Pros:- Easy to use
- No need to mess with hydroponics
- Height adjustable LED lamp
- One of the cheaper options
Cons:- Pots not included
- Not self-watering
- Seeds and soil not included
This indoor garden from GrowLED lets you grow your favorite herbs and dwarf veggies at home at any time of year, no sunny window needed. It comes with its own LED light that automatically switches itself on and off daily to help your plants thrive. The LED is height adjustable, stretching up to 18.7 inches tall, so that as your plants grow larger, the light can raise with them.
The base is a tray built to fit eight four-inch pots (not included) or whatever other smaller pots or planters fit into the 17.6-by-6.8-inch tray. There are no hydroponics to mess with or water pumps to worry about–just old-fashioned dirt and seeds (also not included).
Find more GrowLED LED Indoor Garden information and reviews here.
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11. Best Furniture: Mindful Design LED Indoor Herb Garden with Timer
Pros:- No special refills needed
- Available in several sizes
- Stylish design
Cons:- Only fits three plants
- Does not come with plants or pots
- No automatic watering
This gorgeous smart garden from Mindful Design has a modern look and feel that makes it look like any other piece of furniture.
The stylish plant holder houses sunlight-mimicking LED lights with an automatic smart timer. It’s a great option for people who don’t want to deal with needing to buy specific pods or soil sponges. You can grow any plant you wish in any pot you wish (that fits) without the need for special seed pods or extra equipment.
It’s also available as a two-tier system for more pot space and as a stacking system.
Find more Mindful Design LED Indoor Herb Garden with Timer information and reviews here.
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12. Best Watering System: Kollea Wireless Automatic Drip
Pros:- You can choose the water reservoir
- Precise water volume and frequency
- Automatic watering
- Rechargeable
Cons:- Does not come with plants
- No grow lights
- Expensive
The Kollea Wireless Drip Irrigation Kit is the perfect addition to any indoor plant room or indoor gardening setup that does not include automatic watering.
This watering system integrates a smart timer and precise programmable watering amounts for up to 10 plants at a time. You can choose the time interval between waters at anywhere from one hour to 60 days and watering volumes of 10 milliliters up to 990 milliliters.
The wireless programmer clips onto the side of your water vessel and uses a pump to draw that water out and push it to all our plants at the correct times and the correct amounts. It’s USB rechargeable and as a battery life of around 60 days.
The set comes with 32.8 feet of hose, 10 drippers and spikes, 10 T-joints, and five tube blockers. It also has a 24-month replacement warranty.
Find more Kollea Wireless Automatic Drip Watering System information and reviews here.
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13. Best Indoor/Outdoor: Altifarm Self-Watering Elevated Garden Planter
Pros:- LED light and plastic greenhouse
- No electricity required
- Extra large capacity
- Available in a smaller size
Cons:- Expensive
- Not as stylish as other options
- Soil and plants not included
The Altifarm Combo Home Farm is an extra large automatic vertical garden that comes with everything you need to grow lots of fresh produce and herbs all year long.
This system automatically waters your plants without the need for electricity, sink hookups or additional pump. You simply hand water the top planter once a week and that water travels down to the planter below it and so on until it reaches the bottom planter–but don’t worry, it won’t drain onto your floor from there.
Each planter also has a built-in water meter to show you the water levels of each planter so you can make sure you’re providing enough water at your once-a-week watering. The planters are built to keep the plants elevated off their water supply the way typical planters can’t.
It also comes with a set of grow lights, optional wheels for easy movement, and a plastic greenhouse cover so that you can grow any time of year, inside or out, whether it is sunny or not. This greenhouse cover zips down the front for easy harvesting and there’s a smaller watering zippered opening at the top.
This is definitely the largest system on this list, so if you want to grow a lot of food this is the best choice. If it’s a little too big, they also offer a three-tier combo.
Find more Altifarm Self-Watering Elevated Garden Planter information and reviews here.
What Are the Benefits of Indoor Herb Gardens?
Automatic indoor gardens are a nice way to relieve stress while growing your own herbs, flowers, or veggies at home. In fact, gardening is a popular practice among monks and mindfulness meditation practitioners.
Gardening has even been shown to reduce stress, reduce dementia risk and even lengthen our lifespan. If you can garden at home with little to no effort, the only question is - Why not?
What Can You Grow In These Kitchen Gardens?
Depending on the style, brand, and size, almost anything. I tend to use mine to grow fresh herbs that don't last long when bought at the store like cilantro, basil, and parsley, but I've also grown lettuce, microgreens, and tiny little tomatoes in my small countertop setup.
Some brands require you to use their own seed pods but others allow you to do your own thing which is what I prefer and I've found it to be cheaper in the long run.
I've had great success with this Culinary Herb Seed assortment of all heirloom herbs like basil, thyme, dill, lavender, catnip, sage.
What Can't You Grow in a Home Hydroponic Garden?
You really can't make root vegetables like onions or potatoes work. The same goes for vine crops like pumpkin or melons. They're just too big and sprawling to make work in these types of systems.
How Big Are Indoor Smart Gardens?
They can be as big or small as you need them to be. Some can work double-duty as end tables or even fishbowls while others take up entire corners of u. It all depends on your space and how much food you want to grow.
You do not have to go all-out and start a farm in order to begin growing your own produce at home.
What Does Hydroponic Mean?
According to the people at FreshWaterSystems, hydroponics comes from the Latin for "working water" and refers to a growing system where soil is replaced with circulating water filled with all the nutrients a plant needs.
Often the roots are supported with a growing sponge or rooting medium that isn't as messy as dirt would be.
Humans have been using hydroponics to grow food and flowers since the 13th century so this isn't a new idea but developing the technology that brings it into our kitchens so we always have fresh food had only been in the last few years.
Is Food Grown in Hydroponic Herb Gardens Safe?
You have control over what goes into your herbs, lettuce, and produce when you grow it at home.
Growing your own food is one way to ensure you are eating GMO-free, organic, and as fresh as possible.
Some systems work using chemical fertilizers, others are specifically organic, and others are simply a framework and leave that choice up to you.