Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

The 5 Best Products for Growing Food Indoors with Zero Gardening Experience in 2021

blueeyes/Shutterstock

Whether it’s the frigid winter, a global pandemic, or a lack of arable outdoor space preventing you from planting an edible garden right now, you can still enjoy fresh herbs, fruits, and veggies any time of year when you set up your very own indoor garden.

Indoor gardens come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from a small desktop system for herbs to large, multilevel stackable planters in which you can grow enough greens to make salads aplenty. Most of the time, all you need to do to grow these foods is occasionally add some water — of course, after you have your starter seeds and a few concentrated plant nutrients.

Recommended Videos

Today, we’ll look at five different products for indoor gardening, ranked not by quality or function but listed simply from smallest to largest in terms of space required (and, as it happens, in terms of the potential amount of food produced), and maybe you’ll realize that now is the perfect time to plant a garden.

Planter’s Choice Organic Herb Growing Kit

Planter's Choice Organic Herb Growing Kit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This little herb kit is perfect for any window that gets decent light. The only thing needed beyond light is water. The kit comes with seeds for cilantro, chives, basil, and parsley, and it includes four soil discs that swell to seven times their dry size once watered, filling the included planters. The included booklet takes you through the process step by step, so it will be basically impossible to mess up the gardening here.

Click and Grow Smart Garden 3

Click & Grow Smart Garden 3
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This compact, slender, hydroponic garden comes with basil plant pods and can be used to grow plenty of said herb for all your pesto and caprese needs. However, it can also be used to grow anything from cilantro to strawberries to hot peppers. The system is less than 6 inches wide and barely a foot long, so it’s ideal for smaller apartments or even for use in a studio, office, or dorm room. Because it’s simple and rather stylish, you won’t mind having to look at it at all times.

AeroGarden Bounty Elite Indoor Hydroponic Garden

AeroGarden Bounty Elite Indoor Hydroponic Garden
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Notably larger than the original AeroGardens you might recall from a couple of decades past, this planter system is large enough to grow a lot of food — and fast. If you devote it to one or two types of produce you love — say, cherry tomatoes and arugula — and plant the pods on a slightly staggered basis, you’ll likely never have to buy those particular types of produce again. And because the system is Alexa-enabled, you can keep track of growing conditions and progress with your smartphone or your voice.

Mr. Stacky 5-Tiered Vertical Gardening Planter

Mr. Stacky 5-Tiered Vertical Gardening Planter
Image used with permission by copyright holder

While also perfectly well-suited to use outdoors, this large planter is a great choice for indoor gardening, provided you can get it decent light and rotate it daily. It can be used to grow up to 20 plants — strawberries, potted tomatoes, greens, etc.– in only about 2 square feet of floor space, thanks to its clever design. You’ll need to procure soil for this system, but once set up, using it is as easy as watering the top tier only; the water will trickle down evenly to the other plants. Consider adding some compost or fertilizer at some point, and set it on some sort of tray in case there’s a bit of leakage.

Greenjoy Indoor Hydroponic Growing System

Greenjoy Indoor Hydroponic Growing System
Image used with permission by copyright holder

One Greenjoy hydroponic garden box can help you raise enough greens, herbs, and fruits to feed a whole family fresh foods. Stack a few of these boxes on top of the other, and you can produce enough produce to feed a small army. You can grow 15 plants simultaneously in this planter, each of which can be started from a single seed. And these are full-sized plants, like heads of lettuce or kale, not little herbs, mind you. It can also be used for flowers if you want an indoor cutting garden.

Steven John
Steven John is a writer and journalist living just outside New York City, by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, by way of…
Topics
Country singer Dierks Bentley is releasing a new, limited-release bourbon
Launched to coincide with his new album, Dierks Bentley is releasing a new whiskey
Whiskey glass

Dierks Bentley is a country music star. He also launched his own whiskey brand, ROW 94, in September 2024 in collaboration with the historic Green River Distilling Co. in Owensboro, Kentucky. Recently, the brand announced the release of a new, limited-release bourbon.
ROW 94 Broken Branches

Named for his new album, it was made in partnership with Lofted Custom Spirits at the Green River Distilling Co. It begins with a mash bill of 70% Kentucky-grown corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted and row barley. It's matured for at least five years in new, level 4 charred American oak barrels using "Branch Aging" with fire-toasted oak staves seasoned for up to twenty-four months.

Read more
Starting tomorrow: Strato Frappuccino brings cold foam and bold new textures
A reimagined version of the classic Starbucks Frappuccino
Starbucks Strato

Starting tomorrow, Starbucks lovers can try a new, reimagined version of the classic Frappuccino. The Starbucks Strato Frappuccino blended beverage features a new layered twist inspired by the Italian word Strato, which means layer. The new drink debuts tomorrow, July 8th, in three sweet flavors, each combining creamy cold foam with familiar flavors. These new drinks are for those looking for a more refined version of the classic Frappuccino, with a fresh take on familiar flavors. The new flavors include:

Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino Blended Beverage: A blend of Frappuccino® Roast coffee, milk, and ice, layered with brown sugar-flavored cream cold foam. A blend of cinnamon is an elegant finishing touch.

Read more
Kentucky Owl’s new Batch #13 is the final masterpiece from a bourbon legend
Kentucky Owl

Popular whiskey brand Kentucky Owl recently announced the launch of its newest bourbon, Batch #13. It was blended and crafted by former Master Blender John Rhea. What makes the whiskey more unique is that it was the last bourbon blend created by the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame member before his retirement.
Kentucky Owl Batch #13

Batch #13 consists of a blend of five different bourbons. There’s a mix of younger and wheated whiskeys and more mature and higher rye whiskeys. The blend is roughly between eight and nine years old.

Read more