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5 Things Smart Garden Users Wish They'd Known Before Starting
Becoming an indoor gardener is one the healthiest decisions you can make. Smart gardens give you access to the freshest herbs, salads, fruits, vegetables and flowers at home, any time of year. Before getting started, it’s worth keeping a few things in mind so that you can enjoy the best possible experience. Here’s some great advice we gathered from fellow indoor gardeners in our community:
1. Choose a smart garden that best suits your growing needs
All of our smart gardens are easy to use to grow fresh plants. Some, however, may be more suitable for you depending on your growing and consumption needs. The Smart Garden 3 is perfect for growing herbs occasionally or flowers for decoration. It’s also a great size for children and for teaching them about how plants grow. It’s also perfect for those living by themselves and want an item to liven up their apartment decor.
The Smart Garden 9 is an upgrade, allowing you to grow 3 times as many plants as the Smart Garden 3. It’s especially great for those who want to start eating more herbs and leafy greens. You can use it to grow ingredients for cooking or even as a herbal tea garden.
The Smart Garden 27 (Image: Ashley Poskin)
For even greater yields, particularly if you enjoy eating fresh leafy greens, the Smart Garden 27 or the Wall Farm are great choices. The Smart Garden 27 grows up to 27 plants at a time and the Wall Farm allows you to grow 51 plants. You and your partner will be able to enjoy a near constant supply of fresh, edible greens.
2. Check plant care tips
Our expert gardeners have put together plant care tips to guide you through each stage of your plant’s life cycle. Basic tips for each Click & Grow plant can be viewed in our plant catalog. Simply click on the plant you want to learn about and then select the ‘plant care’ tab to view the tips.
To receive more detailed tips, don’t forget to register your plant on the Click & Grow mobile app. Once your plant is registered, you’ll receive specific tips for your chosen plant. Each tip in the app is timed, meaning you’ll receive them at the appropriate stage of your plant’s life cycle.
3. Remember to prune your plants
To enjoy your edible plants at their optimum taste and nutritional value, they need to be harvested at the right time. Harvesting your plants correctly will promote growth and bring you greater yields. Deadheading flowers and removing plant debris also helps to keep your plants looking great.
Harvesting basil from the Smart Garden 3
Be sure to check our YouTube channel for harvesting tutorials. You’ll also receive harvesting advice via the timed tips in our app.
4. Plan / rotate crops
One of the special features of Click & Grow smart gardens is that you can grow a variety of plants together at different stages. Larger plants won’t interfere with smaller ones. With that in mind, it’s a great idea to plan your own harvesting cycle. For instance, if you’d like to enjoy a constant supply of basil, our info shows that the plant usually lasts up to 12 weeks and the first leaves can be trimmed off 4 weeks after planting. So, depending on how much basil you consume, you should wait at least 4 weeks before planting new basil pods.
Another possibility is to plant 1 new basil pod every week in your Smart Garden 9. This way you'll have basil plants at all growth stages and always have something to harvest.
5. Remember that Click & Grow plants can be transplanted
As much as we would love for plants to grow indefinitely, that simply isn’t the case. When it comes to growing plants in your smart garden, don’t forget that you can transplant them to larger pots and grow them elsewhere. If this is something you’d like to try with your plants, remember to do it before their ‘lasts up to’ date has passed. After your plants are transplanted, it’s important to add enriched soil and to remember to water them. Check out this instructional video on how to transplant your plants:
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