This Garden Kit Grows Veggies On Your Counter — And It’s On Sale For Its Lowest Price Of The Year

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The jury’s still out on whether fall is truly the best season or not (I vote yes ), but one thing is for sure: it’s getting cooler. Darker, colder days are ahead, and if you’re a gardener or someone who would love to grow their veggies and herbs , that could spell trouble. Luckily, you can dodge it with an indoor gardening kit.

We found one on sale at its lowest price of the year, and according to several reviewers, it’s perfect for year-round use . The kit has a built-in extendable grow light and a bundle of starter pots for growing lettuces and herbs like thyme and parsley. It also has dimmable schedule features that mimic the sunrise and sunset every day. That means you can grow veggies even when it’s nighttime or snowy outdoors. This smart, Alexa-compatible device is easy to use, looks great, doubles as a nightlight and, for a limited time, it’s 37% off its list price .

This product may look high-tech, but it’s simple to set up. You just plug it in, fill its tub with water, and set each grow pod into a designated slot. After a few weeks, each pod’s seed will germinate and eventually grow into lettuce, herbs, or whatever vegetable you desire. (One reviewer says they love growing catnip .) When your plants grow tall, you can adjust the height of the lights to accommodate them.

You can pair it with AeroGarden’s smartphone app to create a light schedule and set reminders when it’s feeding, cleaning or harvesting time. Of course, if you don’t want to use the app, that’s fine, too: The kit also has an intuitive LCD touchscreen to let you toggle through its options. It’s also Alexa- and Google Assistant-compatible.

Although AeroGarden sells proprietary grow pods, several reviews say it works with other brands, including Miracle-Gro . Shoppers also say they love placing their gardening kit in darker areas in their home, like a laundry room , so it can double as a nightlight.

“ALL of the pods germinated within the first week, even those that were labeled as taking two to three weeks to germinate,” says one reviewer . “The lettuce is growing gangbusters, and I got to harvest after only three weeks. Now, to be sure, this is not enough lettuce to feed a family, but a fresh personal salad or two each week is nice!”

Don’t let the fall or winter blues ruin your next gardening session and consider grabbing this indoor grow kit while it’s on sale. If you need some extra motivation, read on for promising reviews.

More promising reviews of the AeroGarden Bounty Elite indoor garden:

“ I loved this thing out of the box. Very easy to set up and I started with four pods of salad greens (which all turned out to be red leaf lettuce) plus thyme, dill and Italian parsley. I also ordered some of the plant your own pods and some seeds, so five days after initial setup I planted a Tiny Tim tomato and a miniature pepper plant. ALL of the pods germinated within the first week, even those that were labeled as taking 2-3 weeks to germinate. The lettuce is growing gang busters, and I got to harvest after only 3 weeks. Now to be sure, this is not enough lettuce to feed a family, but a fresh personal salad or two each week is nice. I just trim a few leaves here and there as they start to get tall and block light to other plants. And then new leaves grow. […]” — J. Elam (This review has been edited for length. Read the full review. )

“Just follow the instructions and then it is essentially watch and wait. I use the (proprietary) grow anything pods and I am fairly satisfied. I never bothered hooking it up to Alexa because to me, that is just overkill. In fact, I was quite surprised the first time I turned it on and was greeted with an actual LCD screen. My favorite thing about this is that it is a fully contained unit and I was able to place it in our dark laundry room. 5 stars if growing your own herbs is your thing, but you are lazy like me. ” — Nik

“ No actual plant yet...only been a week but I can see that there will be a sprout anytime now. Easy to set-up and takes up very little room. Needed a funnel to put in water but that was easy to do. Everything seems so automatic that there is really nothing to do but wait for my cherry tomatoes to get here. Have a friend that has the same system and she’s done herbs & cherry tomatoes with hers. She’s who told me about this system and I’m happy she did! Now, I can have fresh herbs & tomatoes without digging in the yard.” — CA lady

“[…] The kids absolutely love that they planted a garden just for our fur babies and watching them really “Love” eating their own garden― makes them so happy & they have so much fun! ― especially knowing that they planted them. It’s given our kids a lot of joy and a major sense of accomplishment! We didn’t expect this to be a “Learning experience”, at all. But, it has become a major one. The best part is that our kids don’t even realize that they’re learning about anything, at all. They’re actually learning a whole lot; about planting, growing, taking care of their pets. Soon, they will be harvesting on their own, after we plant our own garden- for the family. I’ll teach them how to “Prune” the youngling plants, to make the plants as thick and lush as possible, before it’s time for us to be able to start taking fresh cuttings directly from the plants, to put in our own recipes!! The fresher the ingredients, the better the food will taste... And, that’s just guaranteed by nature, itself!!” — Tammy Lanette (This review has been edited for length. Read the full review. )

“ No actual plant yet...only been a week but I can see that there will be a sprout anytime now. Easy to set-up and takes up very little room. Needed a funnel to put in water but that was easy to do. Everything seems so automatic that there is really nothing to do but wait for my cherry tomatoes to get here. Have a friend that has the same system and she’s done herbs & cherry tomatoes with hers. She’s who told me about this system and I’m happy she did! Now, I can have fresh herbs & tomatoes without digging in the yard.” — CA lady

“ It’s really easy to set up, program, fill with water, pop in the pods and just set it and forget it! It tells me via Alexa or the main screen when I will need to add water or plant food and keeps track of how many days since it was planted. I love that you can choose what time(s) the light can be on. When someone says “LED” you think it’s very bright…this is blindingly bright. Set it for the right time of day, or in a room that you’re not sleeping in, and you should be fine. I, personally, kept the 15 hr suggested time and adjusted the hours from 5am to 8pm with gradual on and off. So I wake with it. I’ve only had it set up about 11 or so days and already seeing sprouts! Very happy with this purchase!” — Ashley M.