Even if you have space for an outdoor garden, cultivating an indoor vegetable garden is fun and rewarding. Not only does a garden bring beauty and fresh air to your indoor space, but you’ll also enjoy planter-to-table vegetables all year round!
If you’d like to start your own indoor vegetable garden but aren’t sure where to begin, we can help. In this post, we’ll explore some of the best indoor gardening kits that contain everything you need to grow great vegetables in your home.
We’ll also answer some common questions and provide tips on cultivating a healthy indoor vegetable garden of your own!
Best Indoor Gardening Kits For Fresh and Easy Veggies
1. Aerogarden Harvest Elite
by AeroGarden
The Aerogarden is one of the most well-known indoor gardening kits out there. Its hydroponic system makes it easy to grow herbs and vegetables from anywhere in your home.
This one features a digital panel that feeds, waters, and provides the perfect levels of light the plants need for rapid, healthy growth.
It has enough space for up to six plants to grow up to 12 inches tall with plenty of room and includes curly parsley, dill, thyme, Genovese basil, Thai basil, and mint grow pods.
2. Nest Raised Garden Planter
by Crescent Garden via Lumens.com
You supply a sunny spot (although grow lighting is best) and seedlings. This chic, modern planter’s self-watering system will do the rest.
Suitable for indoor and outdoor use, its height is adjustable, and the tub is roomy enough to grow a pretty large variety of vegetables and fruits. It comes in six colors and two sizes, trellis sold separately.
3. The Farmstand Tower Garden
by Lettucegrow
This tower garden is a great option for maximum yield with minimum space! It comes with a self-watering mechanism, grow cups, timer, a pH testing kit, and plant food.
Choose your seedlings and a spot with abundant light, and you’ll have up to 30 healthy plants in no time. (Or, again, opt for a grow light. Lettucegrow has one sold separately specifically designed to work with this planter.)
Comes in five sizes with indoor and outdoor models available.
4. The Smartgarden 9
by Click and Grow
Indoor countertop vegetable gardens don’t get more low maintenance than this!
All you need to do is fill up the water tank, insert the plant pods, and turn on the grow lights. The pods contain nutrients, oxygenation for the roots, and balance to the plants’ pH levels, so there’s no need to test or add liquid plant food.
The kit comes with three basil, mini tomato, and lettuce pods. If you’d like to experiment with more, you can order different pod sets or try sprouting your own seeds.
We especially like that Click and Grow offers a growth guarantee that says they’ll replace any plant pods that don’t germinate!
5. Stackable LED Indoor Gardening Kit
by Mindful Design
This simple, space-saving design offers you the freedom to grow vegetables practically anywhere inside your house where there’s a power outlet.
It has plenty of room to accommodate multiple plants, though you’ll need to supply the pots or box planter. This stackable gardening kit features LED lights operated with a smart timer on both levels so all your plant babies will grow up to be healthy and strong.
Just choose your containers, plant your seedlings, and give them plenty of food, water, and love.
6. Microgreens Growing Kit
by ingarden
A great source of vitamins and minerals, microgreens are so good for you. And they’re super easy to grow!
This all-in-one kit comes with ready-to-grow preseeded pads, a timed lighting system, and a self-sustained watering system to keep everyone growing strong.
Each kit comes with seven preseeded pads containing arugula, alfalfa, broccoli, red cabbage, watercress, kale, radish, and mustard greens. Available in four colors to match your decor.
7. Hydroponics Growing System
by WANCHI
With this kit (as with most other hydroponic systems), all you have to do to get your garden growing is add water, liquid nutrients, and plant pods. Unlike most other hydroponic systems, this one comes with dual-mode settings – one tailored to growing vegetables and one for fruit and flowering plants.
It’s all fully automated and can grow up to 12 plants at once. The grow light is adjustable, so you can raise it as your plants grow taller.
Comes with preseeded pods for cherry tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, parsley, dill, thyme, basil, and mint. It also comes with a pod for flowering plants.
8. Indoor Gardening Grow Tent
by Spider Farmer
This gardening tent is for the indoor gardener who means BUSINESS when it comes to their plants. With that added heft, of course, comes a little compromise.
First, it’s obviously bulky, so it’s best suited for a basement or garage area. Also, the fan is a bit loud, but again, best suited for larger, less lived-in areas.
That aside, it’s the perfect setup if you’re looking to simulate an outdoor garden closely. It delivers exactly the right amount of light, and the ventilation system keeps the air fresh and cool inside the tent.
All you need to do is supply the planters, dirt, and seedlings/seeds. Keep them watered and fed, and you’ll grow vegetables (or whatever plants you choose) up to eight feet tall.
9. Stackable Vertical Garden Planter
by Amazing Creation
This smart-yet-simple design is excellent for indoor/outdoor use and adjustable according to how many tiers you’d like to use at a time. You can use all five pots and grow up to 15 plants, just one for three different plants, or any combination in-between.
Each layer features a soil separator to keep each plant contained in its own pot, and the bottom base keeps water in the tray as your plants drain.
You’ll provide your own seeds, dirt, and adequate lighting, and the pot provides plenty of room to grow gorgeous indoor vegetables.
How Do You Grow A DIY Indoor Vegetable Garden?
Indoor garden kits are a fantastic way to get your garden growing! But if you’d rather forego the hydroponic seed pods and fully-automated system in favor of good old-fashioned dirt, there are some things to consider.
Placement/Lighting
Providing adequate lighting is the primary challenge of growing any plant indoors, especially herbs and vegetables.
Most edible plants require at least 6-8 hours of full sunlight, which isn’t usually possible through a window, no matter how much light your place gets. Also, most windows filter the abundant UV light that plants need to grow strong.
That’s why most established indoor gardeners use LED grow lights for the best results. They provide consistent UV light and most come with an automatic timing system you can customize to your garden’s needs.
Plant Variety
Some vegetables are easier to grow indoors than others.
When growing vegetables indoors, it’s a good idea to begin with cherry or grape tomatoes, hot peppers like jalapenos and chilis, leafy greens, microgreens, and green onions. They’re relatively low maintenance, and if you treat them right, they will yield great veggies.
Once you get those down, if you want to branch out, tubes like radishes, potatoes, and carrots are fun to grow, too.
Containers
The two most important things to consider when choosing containers for planting are size and drainage.
For plants to bear fruit, they need plenty of space to grow. Not only do they need room to grow up and out, but their roots need an abundance of room to roam. The rule of thumb is to provide at least 6-8 inches of space between soil-growing plants if possible.
Ample drainage is essential to healthy, productive plants, too. Your planters should contain at least one drainage hole with a base for catching any drainage.
*Note: There’s lots of conflicting advice on whether you should add a layer of pebbles or pottery shards at the bottom of your planter to encourage ample drainage.
I’ve had luck with and without, so I can’t really speak to that other than to say keep an eye on how moist your soil is, take good care not to overwater delicate roots, and keep your drainage hole clear.
Food and Water
If you aren’t growing with a hydroponic or automated growing kit, adequately feeding and watering your indoor garden successfully is a matter of using your senses.
First, planting with potting soil designed for indoor growing is ideal. It often contains a mixture of vermiculite, peat moss, and perlite to help aerate the roots and regulate moisture. Many types also include nutrients to help kick-start healthy growth in seedlings.
That said, fertilizing your vegetables for optimal production can be tricky. A tad too much, and you’ve got lots of leaves but not a ton of fruit. Too little, and your plant won’t give you much of anything.
Your best bet is to peruse your local gardening center and read the labels. There are soil combinations and plant foods for growing all kinds of stuff, including those tailored to indoor vegetable gardens at all stages of growth.
Click here for our guide on growing all kinds of stuff inside if you’d like to learn a little more about indoor gardening!
Indoor Vegetable Garden FAQ
The winner of this category, hands down, are leafy greens. Arugula, kale spinach, bok choy, chard, garden cress, and microgreens are all just a few examples of veggies that grow fast. In fact, many will begin growing in as little as 2-3 weeks!
As previously mentioned, leafy greens are easy to grow indoors, as are tomatoes and small peppers. Herbs and microgreens are super easy as well.
Believe it or not, with ample lighting and large containers, citrus, avocado (yes, avocadoes are fruits), fig, and dwarf banana trees grow pretty well indoors! You can also successfully grow strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries with relatively minimal fuss. Oh, and don’t forget our old friend, the tomato. Small tomatoes like cherries and grapes do very well indoors.
Natural wood, stone, and concrete planters are the safest for growing vegetables. If you don’t have that option, plastic is fine as long as it’s BPA, polystyrene, PVC, and polycarbonate-free. If you are planting in plastic, recycled plastic is the safest bet.
Yes! (If you don’t yet know what a smart pot is, go here and become enlightened!) Since they’re made from fabric, smart pots are BPA and chemical-free, so they don’t leech toxins into the soil for your plant babies to drink.
Vegging Out With Your Vegetables Is Fun!
The benefits of cultivating an indoor vegetable garden are many, but we often overlook the gift of companionship!
When the pandemic-that-shall-not-be-named hijacked our lives, more and more people became plant parents. When we were all isolated at home, and the landlord said no pets, they were the closest thing to a bestie we could get.
Now, most plant parents wouldn’t even consider giving up their houseplants for a puppy.
So have fun with your new veggie-bearing friends! And when someone says you’re crazy for talking to them (which someone invitably will), flaunt your gorgeous, healthy bumper crop for the world to see.
Then tell them you’re not sharing, so don’t even ask.
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