Gardening is a great way to diversify your kitchen skills and culinary palette, and you don’t need a big space to do it. Indoor herb gardens are designed to provide those of us with even the smallest garden, with enough space to grow our own herbs and even spices.
The best indoor herb gardens come with Led lighting and self-watering reservoirs, but even simple herb gardens are worth investing in, for the more confident gardeners among us.
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Indoor herb garden kits have come a long way in recent years. They are no longer just well-drained pots with water trays. Today, you can choose from self-watering herb planters, hydroponic herb gardens, and herb planters with integrated full-spectrum lighting.
Some herb gardens even come complete with apps to control water and nutrients while you’re away! There are huge variations in price, and features on every brand out there, so we’ve pulled together a few of our favourite herb garden brands to provide a balanced view of everything they have to offer.
Best Indoor Herb Garden Kits and Planters
1. Garden Gizmo
Source: Garden Gizmo
Garden Gizmo are a step above the most common indoor herb gardens, with timers, water level indicators and various different light levels to grow plants in their ideal conditions, at different points in their growth cycles.
The adjustable grow light is easily adjustable too, so as well as varying the light levels, you can use the LEDS to add a low level of heat to seedlings during propagation, then increase the light levels from further away as the plants develop.
Read our product review and personal experience in the Garden Gizmo Indoor Hydroponic Garden for more details.
2. WETPIA
Source: WETPIA
WETPIA is an Amazon-only brand, but that helps them to keep their pricing down so anyone can grow their own herbs in dark kitchens. Their LED grow lights are not quite full spectrum, but work perfectly for growing leafy greens, salad veg and herbs.
The WETPIA unit above with 12 growing pods makes a lot of use of a small amount of space.
3. Idoo
Source: iDOO
Like a lot of compact indoor herb garden planters, they are fully hydroponic, and have small reservoirs, which need refilling every so often. Their claim of faster growth rates seems to be backed up by regular users too.
4. Urbotanica
Source: Urbotanica
Urbotanica sell all sorts of indoor gardening kit and accessories, but their star product is the Urbipod. The Urbipod is a self-contained indoor herb planter, with a hydroponic, reservoir and fully integrated grow lights.
Its 360 design makes it ideal for kitchen tables, especially for soft herbs like coriander and parsley. (Here's our comprehensive guide to growing parsley indoors and outdoors.)
5. Urban Plant Growers
Source: Urban Plant Growers
Urban Plant Growers are a wide ranging brand with products to solve most indoor gardening problems. Their full spectrum LED grow lights are ideal for clipping onto your own DIY setups, while their fully assembled grow shelves fit seed trays perfectly.
Designed to suit modern gardeners and fit into any sort of home design, their hydroponic herb garden planters are easy to use and have generous planting space. And for more ambitious growers, their planting shelf systems are perfect to grow vertically in whatever way you need to.
6. Vegepod
Source: Vegepod
Vegepod are Australia’s newest home gardening range, with stunningly smart systems to water, heat and light your kitchen herb garden. Their outdoor range is even more impressive with self watering raised beds for growing larger crops that require more space.
Even for indoor gardeners with space to spare, their outdoor raised bed grow pods can be used in conservatories and kitchens for all-year-round crops.
Explore our detailed review for comprehensive information about Vegepod and its products.
Indoor Herb Garden Frequently Asked Questions
Do indoor herb gardens really work?
Indoor herb gardens work, provided you don’t rely entirely on the base instructions. Every plant has different requirements, in terms of soil, watering, and light. So for basil, you’ll need more moisture, but excellent drainage, while sage, mint, and rosemary will thrive in most conditions provided they don’t sit in damp soil.
What is the best low-maintenance indoor herb?
Mint, parsley, and chives are the easiest low-maintenance herbs to grow indoors. Once they establish, you can cut them to harvest, and they will simply grow back. For some plants, they will need time to recover, for others, they will re-sprout within a couple of days.
What is the best location for an indoor herb garden?
North-facing, sunny windows are ideal for indoor herb gardens. The majority of kitchen herbs are Mediterranean, while others grow in full sun in milder climates. Either way, they will thrive with the right amount of water in full sun in the kitchen.
Do indoor herb gardens attract bugs?
Indoor herb gardens actually deter bugs more than they attract them, particularly if you plant mint and rosemary into the mix. Sage is a good insect repellant too. Most natural insect repellants include mint, lemon balm, or rosemary in some form, so growing them indoors will help to deter indoor bugs.
What herbs shouldn’t be planted together?
Fennel and parsley will compete, and fennel will take over your herb garden quite quickly if it isn’t given enough space. Mint can take over from most other herbs unless you contain the roots with a plastic barrier too.
Can you grow herbs all year round indoors?
Most herbs will grow from January through to December indoors in Australia. Some will have dormant periods, or wilt slightly over winter while they recover, and it's best to cut perennial herbs like mint, lemon balm, and sage back once a year to revive them.
For more on indoor growing tips, check out our hands on reviews of indoor grow light stands and sprouting jars to discover which plants to use it with.
Start Your Indoor Herb Garden Today
When you do get your indoor garden set up, don’t stick to the basics. The vast majority of herbs are easy to grow and will flourish in similar conditions to each other. Try oregano, winter savoury, or chamomile to boost the options available to you in the kitchen.
If you do grow more traditional herbs, go wild, and enjoy basil, coriander, or even mint, which will all thrive in indoor herb gardens, whether they are on a windowsill, or individually lit in the centre of the table.
Published on January 31, 2023 by Gary Clarke
Last Updated on January 11, 2024
