Gardening in The City and Small Spaces
Gardening in The City and Small Spaces
If you want to grow your own food in an apartment, you need to have a hydroponics system with lights.
The smaller countertop units are great for small batches of greens or herbs, but if you really want something that will provide fresh vegetables of any volume, you need a big hydroponic system.
While you could go all in and build an indoor hydropic garden from scratch, it is a lot of work. These ready-to-grow hydroponic kits for apartments make getting started in hydroponic gardening simple and fun, while turning out enough vegetables to make the effort worth it.
Here are my best suggestions for high hydroponic systems for apartments.
The Lettuce Grow series of hydroponic gardens are really intriguing, as they do a good job of marrying form and function. Additionally they come in a variety of sizes that only increase the height of the unit, not the overall footprint.
If you have a 2′ x 2′ corner of your apartment, you can grow a surprisingly large amount of produce with one of these units. While I haven’t run one of these myself, one common comment that I’ve heard is that they are a big noisy, and the pump makes a water fountain sound when it is in operation. That might be something to keep in mind if you are a light sleeper in a small apartment.
That being said, these are a very simple to assemble plug-n-play hydroponic setup.
Price At Time Of Publish: $949
Owner Comments On This Unit
Very easy to set up. This unit is in my house (it's about 30F outside). The lettuce is almost ready to harvest after 5 weeks.
If you have a bit more room to work with in your home or apartment, I really like the Aerospring hydroponics system.
It measures up to be 6’2″ tall, 2’5″ wide on parallel sides and 2’8″ wide corner to corner, so takes up more room than some of the other systems, but I really love that it comes with zip up sides that not only reflect more light back into the plants, but block the light out so you can have a dark room still.
While some people have commented that this is a more expensive option for growing vegetables in an apartment, the unit does come with a good warranty, an active support community, and high-tech timers and controls.
Price At Time Of Publish: $1,099
Owner Comments On This Unit
Amazing hydroponic/aeroponic kit. Images are for 7 weeks in, but the tower looked about as full at 5-6 weeks and we’ve been harvesting away since then.
The more budget option, the Gardyn 2.0 takes up just an approximately 18″ by 16″ of your floor space.
Most people have seen success with this garden system, but many report that the electronics and software can be problematic. Personally I would rather spend a little more for a unit that works right out of the box.
Price At Time Of Publish: $899
Owner Comments On This Unit
Works great. After one month, have lettuce out our ears. Planted gherkin cucumbers and already have 2” fruit.
Regardless of which system you choose, with some practice and experience, you will have loads of great tasting vegetables and herbs growing for your family.
One bit of advice for once you have some experience under your belt. Most of the supplies that you buy from the maker of your growing systems, come at a premium. With a little research, you can find what readily available hydroponic supplies work with your system, and that will save you money.
I suggest doing some research and then checking out TheBootStrapFarmer.com to check prices. They are an excellent source for gardening supplies of all sorts.
