If you want to give your cooking a flavorful punch, opt for fresh herbs over dried. However, buying fresh herbs from your local grocery store can be expensive, and they don’t always last as long as you’d like. However, by purchasing an indoor herb garden kit, you can make sure your favorite flavors are at your fingertips year round.
Why Buy an Indoor Herb Garden?
When you buy an indoor herb garden, you get to enjoy not just the convenience of having fresh herbs available at all times, but also some cost-savings. Growing your own is significantly cheaper than buying herbs from the store, so it’s great for anyone who sticks to a tight budget.
Plus, you get to enjoy the beautiful greenery in your home. They can decorate a windowsill or counter, adding a splash of color to any kitchen.
Another benefit of having your own indoor herb garden is you can have fresh herbs all year-round. Unlike growing them outside, these plants remain in a secure, temperature-controlled environment. You don’t have to worry about the impact of weather changes on your herbs, ensuring you always have a supply on-hand.
What Should You Look for in an Indoor Herb Garden?
When you get ready to purchase an indoor herb garden kit, there are a few aspects you want to examine, including:
- Size and Shape
- Herb Selection
- Technology
First and foremost, consider the size and shape of the garden. Since these kits come in a variety of designs, opting for one that fits comfortably in your kitchen or provides you with enough room to get your ideal yield is critical.
Second, you need to consider what herbs come in the kit. While you always have the option to purchase your own seeds, seed pods, or starts to add to your indoor herb garden, finding a product that features all of your favorites is usually more cost-effective.
Finally, the kit’s technological options are another big factor. Some of the best indoor herb garden kits come with specialized lighting and automatic watering features to help your herbs thrive.
Essentially, you can get delish fresh herbs with a “set it an forget it” approach to indoor gardening, making it ideal for busy people who don’t have the time for a lot of tending.
If you are looking for the best indoor gardening kits, take a look at these.
The 5 Best Indoor Herb Garden Kits on Amazon
AeroGarden Bounty with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit with Seed Starting System
If you want to get everything you could possibly need to get started in a single kit, the AeroGarden Bounty with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit with Seed Starting System is the most complete system around. This indoor garden includes a powerful, full-spectrum lighting system, giving you the ability to grow fresh herbs in even the darkest rooms. Plus, it has a touchscreen control panel, ensuring you always know if you need to add water or nutrients.
Additionally, since it is hydroponic, the plants grow in water, not soil, making it less messy to set up and maintain. You also aren’t limited to just the pre-seeded pods. The AeroGarden can grow anything if you purchase the Grow Anything Seed Pod Kits, though those are an additional cost.
- High-Performance Lighting
- Hydroponic
- Grow Anything Option
- Light Position a Little Low
Intelligent Indoor LED Light Garden by Spigo
The Intelligent Indoor LED Light Garden is both self-watering and self-timing, making it easy for those who don’t consider themselves gardeners to enjoy fresh herbs. The system has an automatic timer that shifts between different forms of light, promoting ideal growth. Additionally, the water reservoir holds about 30 days’ worth of water, ensuring you only have to worry about refilling about once a month.
Unlike some other indoor herb gardens, this one requires soil. While some may consider this less than ideal, for those who love getting their hands dirty from time to time, it could actually be a benefit. Plus, since many potting soils come with nutrients built-in, you don’t necessarily have to worry as much about adding any to the water to keep the plants flourishing.
One drawback is the design of the system, as the Intelligent Indoor LED Light Garden has a fairly large footprint when compared to the growing area.
- Self-Watering
- Self-Timing Light Cycle
- Large Footprint When Compared to Growing Area
Click and Grow Smart Garden 9
Do you want fresh herbs without any of the hassle? Then the Click and Grow Smart Garden 9 might be right for you. Once you get it set up, this kit allows you to be almost entirely hands-off, empowering even those with the busiest schedules or brownest thumbs to become the indoor gardener they’d always hoped they could.
Once you insert the plant capsules into the Click and Grow Smart Garden 9 base, add the water, and plug it in, you are pretty much done. The built-in lighting allows your plants to thrive in even the darkest interior spaces. Plus, the pods provide all of the nutrients your plants need, so you never have to add nutrient solutions to get a new yield.
As a bonus, once you are done with the provided pods, you can actually switch them out for other plants. The company offers over 40 options, allowing you to customize your indoor herb garden according to your needs or preferences.
However, the enclosed capsule-based system does limit root growth, restricting the plant’s size. But, if you have very limited space, this could actually be a benefit.
- Low Maintenance
- Wide Plant Selection for New Pods
- No Need for Nutrient Solutions
- Cost
- Limited Plant Growth
SunBlaster SBL1600200 Grow Light Garden
An indoor garden with built-in grow lights, the SunBlaster SBL1600200 Grow Light Garden is a bit less technologically advanced but still incredibly capable. NanoTech reflectors help maximize light output, and the bulbs simulate natural light, promoting a healthy indoor herb garden.
This system uses a watering approach called “bottom watering,” where fresh water goes in a tray and is wicked up into the soil. While this is a form of a self-watering system, it does require more attention than some other options.
However, you do get a lot of flexibility with this option, as you aren’t restricted to proprietary pods. This means you can add any plant you like as long as it can sit in a small pot and fit into the base, which is fairly generous.
- Can Work for a Lot of Plants
- Powerful Grow Light
- Bottom Watering with Small Tray
AeroGarden Harvest Elite
If you want to have a bountiful yield, having the right lighting is essential. With the AeroGarden Harvest Elite, you get an amazing kit with high-performance LED lighting that is tuned to the ideal spectrum, creating maximum growth potential for your herbs. Plus, it’s a hydroponic system, meaning you don’t have to deal with messy soil.
Ultimately, the AeroGarden Harvest Elite is a sound investment for herb-lovers. The system ensures you take the proper steps to allow your garden to flourish, including alerts when you need to add water or nutrients.
Additionally, it’s simple to set up, and the six provided seed pods sprout quickly. This allows you to see that the system is working fast, which can be really rewarding in its own right. And, once it gets going, tending to the plants is a breeze. You won’t have to struggle to keep these herbs alive and flourishing.
However, the position of the light may be a little low, as some of the herbs could potentially grow taller without the hindrance.
- High-Performance LED
- Easy-to-Use Control Panel
- Hydroponic
- Light Position is a Little Low