How to garden year-round, at home: My review of the Aerogarden Harvest Elite

If you’re looking for a more traditional gardening experience, the Click & Grow’s Smart Garden ($249) is a great, beginner-friendly option. It uses a soil-based system instead of a hydroponic system like the Aerogarden, so . you’ll use traditional potting soil pods and plant seeds and water it on a schedule, much like a regular outdoor garden. However, similarly to the Aerogarden, the Smart Garden has a self-watering feature. For more experienced gardeners who may want a more luxurious system, Lettuce Grow’s The Farmstand ($773) is a great option for smaller spaces. It doesn’t have grow lights, however, so it requires more attention and maintenance — and of course access to direct sunlight and space to bloom.

I’m an associate SEO reporter for NBC Select who’s been covering the wellness and lifestyle space for over a year, including stories on the best weeding tools and the best Amazon gardening tools. I’m also an avid gardener and have been growing my own plants in my local community garden for over two years now (I especially love growing herbs). For this story, I tested the Aerogarden Harvest Elite, which the brand sent me, for five continuous weeks and paid particular attention to how well it was to set up, how well my plants grew and what the upkeep process was like. 

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