The best indoor garden systems for growing herbs and veggies

If you've researched indoor gardening even a little, you'll know that AeroGarden is super popular.

The AeroGarden Harvest Elite is a six-pod smart garden with pretty much all the features you could want: an LED grow light, an extendable lamp arm, automatic controls, and a control panel that reminds you to add food, water, and light. It is a pod-based system, though, so you won't be able to use your own seeds unless you purchase a Grow Anything Seed Pod Kit, which is sold separately. 

If you don't have particular seed preferences, though, you'll do just fine with the pods included with the Harvest Elite, which are curly parsley, dill, thyme, mint, and two varieties of basil. According to AeroGarden, plants can grow up to 12 inches tall before they'll need to be repotted.

Like the AeroGarden, this smart garden has pretty much every feature you could think of, including self-watering capabilities, an LED grow light, a timer for that grow light, and a lamp extender. It's a bit more lightweight than the AeroGarden, which gives it a slight edge in portability. Its grow light is not quite as bright, though.

Users are able to able to grow three plants at a time in the Smart Garden, three of which are included with the unit. The downside is that, as with the AeroGarden Harvest Elite, the unit only takes those plant pods. If you want to plant your own seeds, you'll need to place them in a Click & Grow Experimental Pod (sold separately).

If you want an indoor garden that's a bit less futuristic, opt for the Chef'n Microgreen Growing Kit or one of the other less expensive items on this list. But if you're cool with your garden being tech-y — and, hey, that definitely comes with some upsides — this one might be for you. 

Pocket gardens are useful for people who don't have space. This 18-pocket option from Ogrmar, for instance, can be mounted to a wall, thus making it an unobtrusive option for small homes. Each pocket is made of thick, moisture-wicking fabric. When filled — especially with lush-looking herbs — you'll get that pretty, ethereal "plant wall" effect.

Reviewers say this pocket garden may work for hydroponic gardening, as the pockets are too small to hold much soil. They also recommend using as many nails or screws to mount the garden as possible, since it gets heavy fast. 

Finally, if you're using a fabric pocket garden on an interior wall, consider placing a tarp onto the wall before mounting as an added layer of protection. Otherwise, your wall might sustain water damage. 

Microgreens are some of the easiest plants to grow inside: All you need is a tray, water, soil, and seeds. This microgreen growing kit from Chef'n includes all of the above — plus, it'll look attractive on your countertop or windowsill without costing you a lot of cash.

It's worth noting that the Chef'n kit does not have a built-in grow light and is not self-watering, which admittedly makes sense for the price. Still, reviewers appear to have had largely pleasant experiences.

This grow kit is also slim enough to fit on most windowsills and surfaces  — even in small kitchens.

Been looking for an indoor garden that's also a fish tank? Okay, maybe not, but this would still make a great gift (or addition to your own kitchen).

The whole thing functions as a closed-loop ecosystem: Fish waste is filtered away to serve as plant food, which in turn cleans the water in the tank. You'll still need to clean the tank periodically, but not as often as you would with a standard one.

Best of all, the BIGHAVE Mini Aquaponic Ecosystem sounds genuinely fun to use. It is easy to set up and you see results within days. What's not to like?