Take a look around your office space. What do you see? Lots of tech? Some books? Magazines? A can or three of Mountain Dew? What we really want to know is if there are any plants in your immediate vicinity? We probably don’t need to explain the benefits of having foliage around your home. But, they clean the air, for a start, creating oxygen as they grow.
If you’re the kind of person who can’t keep a plant alive, then an indoor garden is just the job for you. Fortunately, there are plenty of them on the market. Also, fortunately, we’ve rounded a bunch of them up, saving YOU valuable time. We’re nice like that. So, without further ado, here are our top indoor gardens. Get growing, green-fingers!
Make Lemonade Indoor LED Planter
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So, you want to start indoor growing, huh? Well, a great way to get into it is with a budget garden like the Make Lemonade Indoor LED Planter. This is a brilliant, inexpensive way to see if indoor planters are “your thing”. It has plenty of room for several little plants. Also, it boasts a nice LED light to encourage your petalled pals to grow. Not only that, but its small size means you can have it on your desk, putting some zen-like greenery right in view as you work.
It is a ring planter, with a base to keep everything steady. The inside of the ring houses the LED lights to encourage growth. Also, the bottom of the planter has a clear basin. So, you can see the plants “above ground” and the roots “below ground.” This is great for giving you a sense of satisfaction. It is lovely to watch plants grow and then flourish before your very eyes. Who would have thought nature and technology could team up like this?!
PICO Garden in your Palm
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No, that name isn’t a pun (or perhaps it is). The PICO can actually fit in the palm of your hand. It is a tiny indoor planter but it still means business. We love the PICO here at KT and we’re pretty sure you will, too. The great thing about the PICO is that it is a hydroponic grow kit. That means the roots of the plant sit in water, meaning no mess from soil or compost. It also has a magnet at the rear of the device, so you can stick it to the front of your fridge if you like. Decorative and useful.
The PICO emulates indoor farm growth, so it uses a full-spectrum LED to completely remove the need for the sun’s rays. Even better, the lamp fixes to a telescopic arm. So, as your plant grows, you can extend the arm and move the lamp up, giving your plant even more space to grow. Also, you can grow pretty much whatever you like in these little planters. That means you can pop some tomatoes in one and basil in another. Hey presto, instant bruschetta! Well, almost.
AeroGarden Bounty Basic
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The AeroGarden Bounty Basic might seem to be a little pricey, but it will undoubtedly pay for itself over time. How? Well, because it can grow SO MUCH OF ANYTHING. That’s right, any herb you want to grow can be grown in this awesome hydroponic planter. It even comes with a bunch of pre-seeded pots to grow some tasty edible herbs like chives and mint. So, you just need to supply the water and the Bounty Basic will do all the hard work for you. It is fairly sizeable, so might be best to pop it on a kitchen counter than your desk.
Honestly, though, this thing will blow your mind. It has a full-spectrum, extendable LED light array for encouraging growth without sunlight. There is also plenty of room for lots of different plants. In fact, you can grow up to nine plants at a height of 24 inches! So, you can grow a veritable biological bounty with it! There is also a handy LCD screen and control panel, so you can program the device to turn on and off. Not only that, but it will also alert you when the water needs topping up!
VegeBox Smart Hydroponics Growing System
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Do you know how Chinese farmers keep their paddy fields in great condition? They put fish in the water. This works wonders because the fish keep the roots free of rot and become a sustainable, secondary source of sustenance when the farmers harvest the rice. Clever, eh? Well, the Vegebox Smart Hydroponics Growing System works in much the same way. VegeBox encourages you to add some small fish to the water in which the plants grow. This relationship is cyclical, as the plant roots feed the fish and the fish waste feeds the plants. No root rot here!
Aside from this wonderful combination, the ring-like planter has full-spectrum LEDs, much like the other models shown in this guide. These enable the plants to grow with little maintenance. So, you can have lovely fresh herbs and vegetables, saving you a bit of cash in the process! Not only that but who doesn’t love to sit and watch fish swimming around. If you can do that, have some nice green leaves to marvel at, and eat the produce of the plants, there is literally nothing not to like about the VegeBox!
E SUPEREGROW Smart Succulents Indoor Garden Kit
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If cacti are your bag, then the E Supergrow Smart Succulents Indoor Garden Kit is the perfect device for you. It is small, so will fit easily on a desk. In fact, you could probably fit a couple on given that they’re relatively inexpensive. Now, you can’t grow food with this one. However, you can grow some really nice succulents. These are hardy little plants so they need very little in terms of your input. You just have to look at them and say “ooh they’re SO nice” to yourself. Smug face optional.
All you need to do is pick a base substance to plant in, choose a plant, and away you go! It has a removable dome up top to protect the succulents from gnats and such. This dome also houses the little grow light, which offers everything the sun does. There is even a ventilation fan at the bottom. This is important because most succulents grow in dry, hot places. With that in mind, they must be kept dry if you grow them in a planter. That’s where the fan steps in, sucking out moisture and keeping your plants healthy.
The best indoor garden kit
Given that you kinda get 2-in-1, we believe the VegeBox Smart Hydroponics planter is about the best option here. The fact that you can combine fish and plant life is a really nice idea. Plus, it provides you with some food. However, being totally honest, we love ALL of these little grow kits because they each have their own charm and do something a little different to the next.
If you’d like to expand your culinary space further, and put some of those herbs to use, check out these tech products that will really make your kitchen stand out.
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