Did I get into blogging because I get sent free stuff? No. But do I love it so much when I do? Yes.
I have two grow lights, a jigsaw, and now a full Click & Grow Smart Garden courtesy of this blog.
I did get sent the Click & Grow for free in exchange for a review, but there was no ‘good review or else!’ guidelines. Luckily, I love it. Whilst there’s no obligation to give a positive review, it’d be so awkward.
What is Click & Grow
Click & Grow is a machine that you put in your house and it grows vegetables. It’s similar to an Aerogarden, but simpler – there’s no pump, and no moving the lights up and down. It’s extremely user-friendly. I got it set up in a few minutes when I was INCREDIBLY hungover.
The most tasking part was filling up the reservoir with water, which for some reason I decided to do by filling and refilling a small jug approx a thousand times, instead of using my 5 litre water bottle. Still, we live and learn.
I have the Smart Garden 9, which has room for nine plants. You get little pods in a packet like this:
You just open the packet and put the pod in one of the cups. Put the lid on, add his little plastic hat to keep the humidity high and in a few days, the seeds will start to germinate.
The refills have very little plastic packaging, which is a bonus.
Is Click and Grow any good?
When I first got my Click & Grow, I had a few doubts. No pump? Surely the water will go stagnant? The lights don’t move? How will I raise it when the crops get too tall?
I also didn’t like that it doesn’t flash when it needs water, but actually, it’s not an issue. It holds a LOT of water, so I just check the little bobber once a week and…it’s fine.
It works really well. I planted three petunia plants, three lettuces, and three tomato plants. The flowers look amazing, the lettuce is delicious, and whilst the tomato plants aren’t, er, tomatoing yet, the plants have flowers on them so it won’t be long.
I set the system up on the 5th of July (I think) so that’s pretty good going.
It’s SO EASY. Click & Grow wraps it up nicely as a concept. Other than adding water every couple of weeks, you don’t need to do anything other than harvest. No moving the light up and down, no adding fertiliser, because it’s already in the soil.
A lot of people would prefer to have customisable lights and stuff, but if you just want a few herbs, chillis or similar in your kitchen, it’s perfect.
How easy is Click and Grow to set up?
Super easy. Just attach the lights, which are labelled so you just match up the letters and click it together, put in the pots, fill it up and turn it on.
As I said, it took me all of twenty minutes, and that included filling it up with water and filling up the labels.
Is Click and Grow better than Aerogarden?
It’s just different. They’re actually not as comparable as you’d think. It’s a bit like iPhones vs Android – they do the same thing in different ways and some people will prefer one way, and others will prefer the other.
I still use my Aerogarden for propagating houseplant cuttings, but I prefer my click and grow to use to grow crops (are they called crops when they’re that small?). It looks nicer in the kitchen, I don’t need to worry about fertilising, it makes no noise, and it fits more in. Obviously, I could get a bigger Aerogarden, but it would take up a LOT more space.
If you want to micromanage your plants, get an Aerogarden. If you want some basil in your kitchen but don’t really care how it gets there, get a Click & Grow.
Does Click and Grow use a lot of electricity?
No. If you’ve read my grow light reviews, you’ll be aware that my boyfriend LOVES to keep close tabs on our electricity usage. The Click & Grow had no noticeable effect on our bill.
Pros of Click and Grow
The seeds germinate really well
I think every seed in the pods germinated. I plucked out most of the excess ones because I didn’t have room for them, but i put one of the spare tomato plants in leca to see if it would grow. It did!
The roots look great, and also pretty creepy.
Super low maintenance
This is the main draw for me – it is truly low maintenance. The founder of the Click & Grow Smart Garden, Mattias Lepp, wanted to create a hands-off, indoor garden. And he did!
I usually top up the water weekly, but it lasts about three weeks, depending on how warm it’s been and how far along your plants are.
Looks good
It’s really sleek, minimal and home decor-y if you know what I mean. Like someone actually thought about how to make it look good in the home. It doesn’t look out of place in my kitchen.
The photo above is a stock photo. My kitchen is in desperate need of renovation (you can see the state of the plasterboard behind the Smart Garden!). In fact, the only thing that does look good is the Click & Grow.
Low running costs
Let’s be honest, it’s cheaper to buy your food at the shop. However, if you do want to grow your own, buying a complete system like Click & Grow can be cheaper than buying seeds, soil, tools, fertiliser, plus whatever gumph you need. And you can contact customer service if you need help!
Sturdy components
The cups, wicking material, and plastic covers are all made from a really sturdy plastic that can be easily reused. Whilst they recommend you use Click & Grow’s smart soil, you could easily add your own soil and seeds to the cups. You’d have to work out a feeding schedule, so it would be less hands-off, but definitely possible.
It’s easy to pot the plants on
My biggest issue with Aerogarden is potting on hydroponic plants, because the roots are water roots, and you often end up losing the plant before it develops soil roots unless you hover over it. The Click & Grow uses soil, so you can pot it up in soil and be done with it.
A lot of other reviewers said the cups were too small, but I think they’re the perfect size. Any bigger and the plants would end up taking over the kitchen – you know how tomato plants can be. The fact you can easily put it in a bigger pot is a bonus for me.
Cons of Click and Grow
There were no glaring obvious flaws to the Click & Grow. At first I thought I’d prefer an ‘I need water’ light, but actually, the bobber works fine, and I love how minimal the design it – a light would ruin it.
You can’t adjust the light
This is a con to some people, but to be honest I kind of like that the only thing I can adjust is the water level. My plants grow find, so clearly they did research about the best height for the light.
Also, I’m technically lying. You can buy extenders for the light if you wish.
You also can’t adjust the timer on the light. You can either just turn it on/off when you choose or have it be on a 16 (?) hours on, 8 hours off cycle. I’m sure a lot of people would hate this, but again, it’s fine by me, and pretty standard on all of these types of systems. If you’re that bothered you can get a timer for the plug socket.
If you tip the pods upside down the seed will fall out
This may be obvious to some, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. There’s no need for all of us to be scouring the kitchen floor for errant petunia seeds.
Are the Click & Grow refills expensive?
They are quite expensive – around £20 for 9 plants, but they’re often on sale for half price. That works out to just over a pound per pod.
Could you add your own soil, seeds, and fertiliser and make your own more cheaply? Yeah. But if you’re paying for convenience, I don’t think they’re that expensive.
If you buy those £1 pots of basil from the supermarket, you could probably make your money back over time. But if you buy a lot of flowers and accidentally let them die, you’ll definitely make your money back.
To be honest, the Click & Grow Smart System isn’t trying to market itself as a cheap alternative to buying lettuce. It’s a convenient way of always having fresh lettuce (seriously, I’m nearly self-sufficient in lettuce and I only have three plants).
Final thoughts
I love the Click & Grow System. I love how convenient it is. I prefer it to my Aerogarden because it’s easer to use and looks better, but I totally get why some people would prefer more control.
If you buy one through my link you get 10% off your purchase. If there’s a better discount available it’ll be applied.
