Suffice it to say, the chia pet has leap-frogged across the stepping stones of evolution, now becoming the fashionable indoor garden. One of the main benefits of an indoor garden is having access to fresh produce without having to leave your home.
You can grow a variety of herbs, fruits, and vegetables, including those with short harvest-to-wilt windows like lettuce and flowers. An indoor garden can also help purify the air inside your home, creating a healthier environment for you and your family.
In fact, one of the most significant advantages of an indoor garden is that plants aid in air filtration, which improves the air quality you breathe. Plants filter the air by absorbing toxic gases such as benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene, making the indoor air cleaner and safer for you and your family.
In fact, indoor gardens have gone high-tech and are even an integral aspect of interior design. Besides looking cool, imagine craving a salad and being able to pick your own veggies from the comfort of your home. You can go small or go industrial large with your mini-farm. Here are our top 5 gardens for the great indoors.
Building Your Indoor Garden
There are many ways to build an indoor garden, depending on your preferences and available space. One option is to create a large hydroponic system, which allows you to grow plants without soil, using nutrient-rich water instead. Another option is to create a vertical wall garden, which can add a stylish touch to your home while also providing fresh produce.
The options we talk about here actually are all self-contained, providing the necessary system for your indoor garden. Although they are on the high end of available indoor gardens, they integrate seamlessly just like a stylish kitchen appliance.
Maintaining Your Indoor Garden
Once you’ve set up your indoor garden, it’s important to maintain it properly. This includes regularly watering your plants, providing them with the appropriate amount of light, and monitoring their growth.
Luckily, these tech-based indoor garden systems make maintenance easy, which is another benefit of opting for these systems. You should also be mindful of pests and diseases, which can quickly spread in an indoor environment.
Urban Cultivator
You can’t get anymore more organic and fresh than growing your own greens right in your own kitchen. Of course, you’ll have to start with non-GMO seeds which they also sell, but you’ll know you’re staying healthy while on a fitness kick (if that’s your thing).
Urban Cultivator indoor gardens provide an easy and convenient way to grow organic produce right in the comfort of your own home. With this technology, you can easily create a perfect micro-environment to give your plants just what they need to grow in a healthy and efficient manner
With this in mind, Urban Cultivator’s indoor garden accommodates nicely with their dishwasher-size model (no coincidence there) and another unit that acts as a kitchen island. The butcher block on top of their cultivators is made of solid maple, which we find is a nice touch.
The stylish dishwasher-size unit known as the “Kitchen Cultivator” connects to any city water source and you can grow up to 8 varieties of microgreens and herbs at once. It also has automation integrated with computer controls for watering and light cycles.
The Urban Cultivator is an indoor garden system that allows you to grow a wide range of plants in the comfort of your own home. It’s essentially a fully automated garden that uses hydroponics to deliver nutrients directly to the roots of your plants, ensuring they grow strong and healthy.
The system is compact and can be installed anywhere in your home, from your kitchen to your living room or even your bedroom. It comes with built-in LED lights that provide your plants with the light they need to grow, and a self-watering system that ensures they get the right amount of water at all times.
You are still required to add supplied organic fertilizer once a week but hey, you gotta do some of the work if you want to call yourself a real farmer. Speaking of real farming, they also have commercial-size cultivators about the size of refrigerators if you feel like doubling down.
One of the most popular products from Urban Cultivator is the Urban Vegetarian Herb Cabinet. This compact and stylish cabinet is designed to fit seamlessly into any modern kitchen. It is perfect for those who want to grow their own herbs but have limited space.
The Urban Vegetarian Herb Cabinet is equipped with everything necessary for a successful indoor herb garden. It features LED lighting, automatic watering, and temperature control. The cabinet is also fully customizable and can be configured to grow a variety of different herbs, veggies, and microgreens.
The Urban Vegetarian Herb Cabinet is incredibly easy to use. Simply add water to the reservoir, insert the seed pods, and watch your herbs grow. With this garden, you can have fresh herbs at your fingertips whenever you need them. This means you can say goodbye to dried herbs from the grocery store that have lost their flavor and nutritional value.
The Urban Cultivator Residential on Wheels is another option for those who want to grow organic produce indoors. This product is ideal for larger families or those who want to grow a wider variety of herbs and veggies. It is available in both built-in and standalone versions and comes with all the features necessary for a successful indoor garden.
Another thing we love about Urban Cultivator is their online herb-growing videos. Besides being incredibly comprehensive on specifics they show you how to grow these specific herbs in their units. Urban Cultivator also has 7 days a week of support in case one of your little leafy friends isn’t performing as expected.
OGarden Smart
One of the most unique features of the OGarden Smart is its rotating indoor garden. With up to 30 growing cups that can be placed in a lower cabinet, this system allows your seeds to germinate and grow in a self-contained environment.
As the plants mature, they are automatically rotated to ensure that each one receives the perfect amount of sunlight and nutrients. This indoor gardening system is super cool with its rotating wheel and a grow light at its center. Kinda puts that end table to shame, since all you can grow on that is dust.
With the OGarden Smart, you can unlock your home’s potential and create a thriving, sustainable indoor garden that produces up to 90 different types of fruits and vegetables. The OGarden Smart is an all-in-one indoor garden solution that fits in any kitchen or living room, and with its automated technology, it takes the guesswork out of gardening.
With this system, you don’t have to worry about soil, watering schedules, or light intensity – it does all that for you! It’s the perfect way to add a little green to your life and make sure you always have a fresh supply of healthy produce at your fingertips.
This indoor garden system runs off a water tank that holds about 10 days’ worth of supplies with a friendly reminder when the reserves get low. From our standpoint, refilling the water reserve counts as hard work and gives you true farmer status. Well done!
How To Begin With the OGarden
Here you start with seed cups that they sell and let the little guys cultivate in the nursery cupboard for about 3 weeks. OGarden Smart can grow a wide variety of fruits and veggies, including strawberries, celery, kale, bok choy, green beans, cayenne pepper, green onion, and cherry tomatoes. In fact, up to 30 growing cups can be placed in the lower cabinet where the seeds are allowed to germinate, providing ample space for a diverse range of crops.
Then you move them into the fun wheel and let the festivities begin! 30-40 days later, lunch is served. By the way, if you want to grow something other than what they offer, you can buy their pre-made cups of soil – just add seeds.
Another standout feature of the OGarden Smart is its low maintenance requirements. This smart garden kit is designed to be self-sustaining, with enough water to care for the garden for days at a time. Plus, the lighting self-timer ensures that your plants grow regularly and evenly, without requiring any extra effort on your part.
LG Column Garden
Moving up on the scale of heavy hitters, we have the LG Column indoor garden that’s about the size of a large fridge. Utilizing flexible modules, the appliance replicates optimal outdoor conditions by precisely matching the temperature inside the insulated cabinet with the time of day.
LG’s non-circulating water supply technology is one of the key components of the automated indoor gardening solution, which distributes the exact amount of water required by plant packages evenly. This core technology prevents algae growth and inhibits unpleasant odors, creating a clean and hygienic environment where natural herbs and leaf vegetables can grow safely.
The LG Column Garden is also designed to automatically manage light and temperature conditions, making it easy for anyone to grow fresh produce indoors. LED lights, forced air circulation and wick-based water management allow seeds to transform quickly into ingredients for delicious recipes and dishes.
The advanced gardening system is capable of holding up to 24 all-in-one seed packages, enough for a family of four to enjoy the healthful benefits and culinary delights of a wide range of home-grown edibles.
Convenient All-In-One Seed Packages
The all-in-one seed packages included with the LG Column Garden contain seeds, peat moss, and fertilizer, making it easy for users to start planting immediately. The initial package will include 20 different varieties of seeds, including romaine and other types of lettuce, arugula, chicory, and basil. This feature is particularly helpful for individuals who are new to gardening or do not have much experience in selecting the right type of soil and fertilizers.
Growth-Monitoring App for Successful Harvests
The LG Column Garden also comes with a companion app that helps users manage and monitor their plants. The app offers useful guidance at each step of the way to ensure a successful harvest every time.
The app allows users to monitor the growth of their plants, receive notifications when it’s time to add water and control the light and temperature conditions remotely. The app also provides valuable information on how to care for specific plant varieties, making it easy for beginners to get started.
“With more and more consumers these days living vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, it was important for us to contribute to this trend,” said Dan Song, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company.
“Our first indoor gardening solution represents a new paradigm for LG in home appliances, offering a way for consumers to eat well while providing the joy of growing their own food, consistent with LG’s overall goal of making life better.”
Farm Shelf
We get it. You bought a pair of overalls and you really want to play the part. OK, here’s the indoor garden that really looks like you are farming like a farmer (real farmers will still beg to differ, but that’s between you and them).
Farmshelf uses hydroponic technology, a method of growing plants without soil, to maximize space and conserve water while producing higher yields and higher quality food. And the best part? It requires less labor than traditional gardening methods.
One of the biggest advantages of hydroponics is that it requires far less space than plants grown in soil. This makes it an ideal solution for those who want to grow fresh produce at home but don’t have a lot of outdoor space.
Hydroponic systems also conserve water since they use a closed-loop system that recirculates water and nutrients. This means that hydroponics uses up to 90% less water than traditional growing methods.
With Farm Shelf, you’ll just plug into any outlet and connect via WIFI. Everything is self-contained and on wheels, so you can roll it over to the best spot where your friends can’t help but admire your horticulture skills.
With this indoor garden system, you simply add water and nutrient solutions to a built-in water tank, insert seed pods, and let the automated system take care of the rest. Custom LED lights provide optimal growing conditions and the Farmshelf app allows you to remotely monitor your plants with cameras and sensors.
The bookcase-sized farms are powerful enough to provide pounds of fresh produce every week and small enough to fit into a restaurant. Custom LEDs and a controlled environment create the optimal plant ecosystem for year-round gardening.
Farm Shelf is the size of a bookcase with glass on both sides—the plants are the star of the show. The classically sleek design includes thoughtful features such as lights that dim to your liking.
The future of food is local, and Farmshelf is leading the charge to bring the farm into our homes and communities. By simplifying the food supply chain and reducing waste and chemicals, we can create a more equitable and healthier food system for all.
Freight Farms
So you’ve made up your mind to go vegan fo’ever and are ready for next-level growth. Well, Freight Farms won’t disappoint with their shipping container-size grow house called The Greenery. With this bad boy of vertical indoor gardening, you can grow up to 8,800 plants at once.
Container Farming in 320 Square Feet of Space
Fully constructed within a 40-foot shipping container, the Greenery produces hundreds of pounds of produce every week while using less water than traditional farming.
These cutting-edge container farms allow you to grow food anywhere, regardless of the climate or location. With the ability to produce fresh, organic food without soil, artificial lighting, or pesticides, container farms offer incredible benefits that you won’t want to miss out on.
The Greenery is a vertical hydroponic farm that thrives within an insulated, custom-built shipping container. Unlike traditional farms, the plants in the Greenery grow vertically and indoors without soil.
Benefits of Verticle Farming
Unlike traditional farms that require large amounts of land, the Greenery™ uses vertical farming techniques to maximize space and improve yields. Plant panels and adjustable rows allow you to customize your growing space effortlessly, while powerful LED arrays provide intense light to encourage plant growth without sunlight.
Nourishing Hydroponic Systems
The Greenery™ features two designated hydroponic methods that optimize water delivery to plants at different stages of growth. Plants grow vertically indoors without soil, getting their nutrition from water and light energy from powerful LEDs. This offers independence from land, climate, and season – and those pesky deer and rabbits that like to nibble on your stash.
This allows the Greenery to bring the power of food production anywhere in the world– its modular design means it can easily traverse the globe by land and sea before arriving at its new home. Vegans of the world rejoice, this is a new era!
If you’re going large with this indoor garden system, then you’re most likely growing for resale. One of the biggest benefits of using a container farm is the potential for profitability. With a great ROI and minimal staffing requirements, you can quickly run and operate a profitable business. Plus, with the ability to grow food year-round, you can keep up with demand and never miss a harvest.
Conclusion
In addition to improving air quality, an indoor garden can be therapeutic and can have a positive impact on mental health. Taking care of plants on a regular basis helps to nourish and grow life, which contributes to improving your home environment.
This sense of responsibility can be fulfilling and satisfying. Studies also found that spending time in green spaces helps people de-stress and relax, and indoor gardening allows you to live and sleep in that green space, providing continuous benefits.
Indoor gardening is also an excellent way to have fresh herbs and vegetables right in your kitchen. There are many easy-to-grow indoor plants and herbs, which means you can have access to fresh produce and even save money on groceries. Growing your herbs also ensures that they are free from pesticides and other harmful chemicals.
Moreover, indoor gardening adds extra calm to your decor, making it more aesthetically pleasing. Plants add color and design flair to any indoor space, creating a natural and inviting atmosphere. However, it’s essential to know which plants are toxic if you have children or pets in the home.
