I'm a huge fan of chives, and mint, and basil, and fresh herbs to put on my breakfast and more importantly fresh ingredients to muddle into my cocktails. Sure, I can go buy those herbs from the store, but after the third visit for an old box of rosemary, I thought there must be a better way to grow plants and herbs in my city apartment; turns out there is!
The first thing I want to flag here is that I'm not a green thumb. My thumbs are pink with the knowledge that I've killed more plants (especially indoor plants) than I'd care to share. My wife very kindly bought be a small cactus as a gift for my office and despite my Googling and making sure that I was not over-watering it, I still managed to turn that little lovely cactus gift into a pile of mush. So take it from me: What I'm going to suggest below is for everyone – not just those people who are gifted in the art of green growth.
The problem with growing plants indoors
I'm not going to blow your mind when I explain that growing plants in a big city (and therefore indoors) is difficult because of a lack of natural light.
If I remember anything from high school chemistry it's that plants need nutrients, water, and most importantly light to grow, so therefore without one of those three things, your future in greenery is going to be short-lived.
That left me with a few options.
How to grow plants indoors with lights
I started looking into options – first off starting with buying my own soil, seeds, lights from Amazon, and planting them in my own plastic pots. What I quickly realized is that plants need a pretty regular supply of all of these elements (just like when they're outside) and therefore setting and forgetting a pot on the windowsill wasn't going to cut it.
After some Googling I discovered the Click & Grow, which looks a bit like this:
Basically, it's a device that does the watering for you, does the light schedule automatically, and you can buy pre-filled pods of seeds or even put your own seeds into their special pods to grow yourself whatever you want (more on that below)!
The device itself has the ability to turn the lights on and off at a schedule that works best for your plants, and therefore doesn't disrupt your sleep if you've got a smaller apartment.
Here's the best bit though: You don't have to do anything except make sure that the water level stays high enough, and there's even a little buoy that tells you how much water is left:
If you want plants that grow themselves, then this is a winner. Here's mine (which is clearly obvious because it's not shot in a beautiful and clean studio):
When you first buy the unit it actually comes with a few different pods pre-packaged to get you started. There's also an app that you download which can monitor when you put your seeds in, gives you tips and tricks if you need them, and will tell you what to do and when they're ready to eat.
Most of which you'll be able to work out pretty quickly yourself but I'm here in the comments below if you want to chat gardening.
How to grow plants indoor from seeds
The coolest element of the Click & Grow is that you can buy their “experimental pods” which have all the nutrients required to grow a seed from a seed, and it really is a bit of a set and forget process.
Again, I'm not a green thumb but the process for using an experimental pod is:
- Tip seed packet into pod, so that a few seeds drop into the center spot
- Water without the seeds falling out
- Place back in the Click & Grow
- Wait
From that I've now grown my own chives, garlic chives, thyme, rosemary, mint, lemon balm mint, sage, and even some lettuce (hot tip – I don't recommend the lettuce because the time it takes to get half a salad really isn't worth it unless you buy a huge Click & Grow and start your own lettuce farm).
How to get a good deal on a Click & Grow
Alright, if you're a bit eager to get started, I've got a deal for you. You can click here and get yourself one in either 3, 9 or 27 pod size.
They're actually on sale now with 20% off, so you should look now or forever hold your peas.
What to do with the things you grow in your Click & Grow
I use these herbs in cooking, in cocktails, on my breakfast (have I said how much I love chives?), and really anywhere that will allow for it.
I've actually become a bit obsessed with growing my own little garden and once they get too big for the Click & Grow they migrate to a pot and I put them on the roof of our building or in a small pot on our fire escape. They continue to grow now that they're more resilient than a tiny little seed or fresh shoot, and with some TLC, they're still growing today (here they are – in the foreground – not thje trees in the background):
