Which Indoor Gardening System Is Worth the Price? We Tried Them All

WIRED

23-07-2025

'Like a coffee capsule machine, but for plants,' reads Click & Grow's marketing copy. Sure enough, the Click & Grow Smart Garden's seed pods come in a Nespresso-evoking plastic three-pack with a tear-off lid. Put a nutrient-packed 'smart soil' seed pod in one of the Click & Grow's cups with the wicking bottom, fill the reservoir, and that's it. In what was the most simple watering system I tried, a wick at the bottom of the cup will bring water up to the pods, and the roots stay in the cups. Plug it in, and the LED grow lights will stay on for the next 16 hours. I tested the Smart Garden 9 with three pods each of lettuce, basil, and tomato plants. Overall, there are about 75 pods to choose from, including herbs, flowers, leafy greens like arugula, and vegetables. There is a Smart Garden Pro that connects to Wi-Fi and has app control, but despite the 'smart' in the name, this is not that—there's no app needed or required for the non-Pro version. All in all, this garden was refreshingly low-maintenance. A little bobber on one end tells you when the water level is low and needs a top-off simply by floating lower than the growing surface. That's it. No adding nutrients or checking pH or worrying about pumps. It's also small, so you can plop it on a shelf or countertop. At the same time, this was also the slowest-growing garden I tested. I had it set up the same week as the Gardyn, above, and had already been harvesting months' worth of greens and vegetables by the time I got one Click & Grow lettuce leaf. One of my lettuce pods didn't even sprout at all. After two months, I have now gotten a handful of basil and lettuce leaves (literally, one handful), and the cherry tomatoes have grown past the lights without making a single flower. Meanwhile, the Lettuce Grow, which was started after the Click & Grow, has at least 15 visible tomatoes. Still, this isn't a bad garden by any stretch, and it's a viable option for busy people who are interested in growing something like flowers, where yields aren't a concern. Light Cycle 16 hours Pump Cycle No pump Spots for Plants 3-9 (for Smart Garden) Nutrients Included Already in the pods; no applications necessary Plants to Choose From 75+ Maintenance Needs Top-off reservoir as needed Can You Grow Your Own Plants? Yes; Click & Grow offers 'Grow Anything' pods for $2-$3 each. Dimensions Approx. 24" W x 16" H x 7" D Power Consumption 13 watts Warranty 1 year AccordionItemContainerButton No pH tests, pump maintenance, or nutrients needed. Growth rate is unimpressive.
There are multiple sizes of the Rise 3 garden, but all of them follow the same design playbook: A metal frame with a cabinet hiding a water tank, multiple levels of shallow reservoirs, and an LED 'roof" above each level. I tested the three-level version; each level's reservoir had a lid with varied numbers of pod slots adding up to 48 for the whole system, but you can buy lids with more slots to allow your garden to hold up to 108 plants. The water is pumped from the tank in the bottom cabinet and flows through each level's reservoir. The plant roots just spread out inside the reservoir. The Rise has far and away the biggest capacity of any non-DIY indoor garden I've seen and would be more than enough to keep a large family in nightly salads for months. Overall it's a pretty traditional form factor—in fact, I'm pretty sure I saw one of these in the corner of my college biology class. Since it's so large, assembly was a bit tricky, and vague instructions weren't helpful. However, Rise does come with a smart plug for the lights and pump, as well as an app that offers reminders on when and how to add water and nutrients and balance the pH. Unfortunately, I didn't find out until after I had already set it up that the pods need to germinate first in plastic lidded 'nurseries.' My test unit didn't come with enough nurseries for the number of seed pods I had, so I had to improvise with shallow plastic containers, with the pods weighted to keep them upright in water. After a few days, I noticed the containers—all of them, including the provided nurseries—had begun to grow algae, and the black-plastic surface of the Rise trays was noticeably warm. I brought out my infrared temperature gun to test—the 195-watt LEDs paired with the black plastic had brought the surface up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. For reference, the other indoor gardening systems were room temperature, in the mid-70s. Once the plants were grown, the temperature came down to something warmer than 'normal' but more reasonable: 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, this is something to consider in terms of room placement and what plants might thrive. Over time, I noticed herbs and lettuce bolted faster in the Rise 3 than in other gardens, likely due to this heat. I'm still a big fan of the Rise's form factor and its capacity, but I think it's best for heat-tolerant crops like tomatoes and peppers. Also note that, unlike other systems, the Rise 3's pump runs continuously, resulting in an audible splashing noise—if this bothers you, it may not be the best choice for small spaces. Light Cycle 16 hours Pump Cycle Continuous Spots for Plants 36 to 108 Nutrients Included 1 bottle pH balance solution and 1-ounce sample bag of Sprout, enough for one application. You will need to purchase nutrients. Plants to Choose From 100+ Maintenance Needs Top off water reservoir once a week, check/rebalance pH once a week. Can You Grow Your Own? Yes; rise offers pouches of seedless pods; 12 for $13. Dimensions Approx. 65" H x 36" W x 16" D Power Consumption 195 watts (for 3-level) Warranty 3 years AccordionItemContainerButton Huge number of plants possible. Lights can run hot and continuous pump is noisy.