Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 review
Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 review
Get one here: https://amzn.to/2KP7DY2
We all know how satisfying it is to grow your own food. For lots of us, however, weather, climate and space considerations can make having a garden difficult or impractical. That’s why Click and Grow is such a great idea. I recently received a sample of the Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 to test out for this review.
Click and Grow is a small planter box with built in lighting and water where you can grow an astonishing variety of plants, flowers, herbs and vegetables. The Smart Garden 3 planter box holds 3 seed pods and is designed to be self-watering, holding enough water to properly irrigate the seeds for about a month at a time. There’s special LED grow lights that arc overtop, and they come with extensions so you can raise the lights as your plants grow.
You plant the box with special pre-planted soil-and-seed pods that come in handy peel-and-pop-out packages. Fertilizer is already part of the soil so you get healthy plants from the start. There’s no pesticides, plant hormones, or any other harmful substances. You can plant a whole garden with one crop, or mix and match.
The Smart Garden 3 is quite compact, and a good size for a kitchen counter. There’s a bigger version, the Smart Garden 9 which can grow up to 9 pods.
Setting up Smart Garden 3
Getting growing is easy; open up your soil and seed pods (my kit came with three basil capsules) and pop them into the cups and add the small plastic biodomes to create a greenhouse effect. Fill the side opening with enough water to make the small float even with the top of the planter, then plug it in to power up the lights.
It’s worth noting that the lights stay on for 16 hours straight and then turn off for 8 hours. So whenever you plug them in, that’s when your ‘day’ begins. Do this at 5pm and your lights will be on all night. Not that that’s a problem, but if you don’t want that bright light all night, it’s best to plug it in to start the timer in the morning.
Once the plants start growing and reach the inside of the biodomes, you can remove them and save them somewhere safe for your next crop.
Thanks to its energy efficient LED lighting system, the Smart Garden only consumes 6W of power.
App connected Smart Garden 3: not really that smart
Sign up for the app and then use the camera to scan the QR code on your plant capsules or add them manually by searching the plant database.
The app tells you a bit about what to expect from your plant, how long a lifespan it should have, and allows you to set watering reminders, create a photo album or otherwise journal your crop. There’s not really any smart connectivity to speak of; the app isn’t monitoring your crop in real time, and can’t for example tell you if the light is on or off, or offer that kind of remote control or time adjustments. I think that would be a great new feature for the Smart Garden, and hopefully that kind of smarts is in the works for the future.
How soon can you harvest Click and Grow Smart Garden?
It was fun watching my seeds sprout and grow, changing every day, and after just 3-4 weeks, the basil I planted was big enough to begin harvesting. After about three weeks I needed to add one of the extenders for the lights, since my plants were already touching it. I should have acted a little faster to move up the light bar, since when I went to adjust it, the lights were actually burning the delicate leaves a bit; more sunburn, less fire, if you get my drift.
I probably could have started plucking leaves even earlier, but I wanted to give the plants a chance to grow fully this time around.
How much growth is there?
After about a month, I had three strong plants. I’d say at this point, they’re about half to three quarters the size of one of those grocery store clamshells of herbs. By about week six, they were rather large bunches and we couldn’t keep up by eating them!
Overall review of Click and Grow Smart Garden 3
I absolutely love this device. Growing my own fresh herbs was a treat. Plus the fact this garden is so low maintenance makes it so easy. There’s enough water to care for the garden for weeks, and the lighting self timer keeps my plants growing regularly and evenly. Because the lights are placed overhead on a sturdy arm, the plants grow straight and even.
The basil in particular was very sturdy, leafy and vibrantly green. It would be a good idea too to plant your individual pods a week or two apart, to ensure a constant supply.
The taste is really good! It’s bold, vibrant and a bit spicy; not bland like that grocery store clamshell basil you buy. I’m duly impressed!
The Smart Garden 3 sells for about $99USD and comes with a starter pack of 3 basil pods. Additional pods including a wide variety of herbs, lettuces, small fruits and veggies and even flowers are all available from Click and Grow’s website. They sell for $9.99 for a 3-pack of seed and soil pods.
I’m hooked, and will be ordering cilantro next.
great to see a two year report. So many reviews have people open a box and turn something on, and that’s it. This is so much better.
Looks smart. Why more than 10x price from other, regular sized, capillary boxes?
i love to do gardening since i was 3 or 4 years old. but nowadays, i cant continue my passion anymore because it needs work and im so busy 🙁
now that weed is legal in canada i wonder if you can grow in one of these. using a auto flowering plant
This system makes no sense. Each seed pods cost over $5.60USD even with a bulk purchase discount. Much more expensive than buying organic veggies at Whole Foods. Why would anyone buy this?
Toooooo expensive
Thanks for the video. You should eat home for harvesting basil. It hurt my heart a little to see you pulling the leaves off.
Shane u use basil wich everyone can makr grow. Try chili or another difficult plant
Thanks for the review.
Great video!
Hi! Loved your review! I’m considering gifting this for Christmas. Have your plants had mold on the soil? If so, could you share how to deal with that? Thanks!
what if indoors is too warm?
Hi Erin, good stuff, i was after one of these a while ago, nice, ps, i swear your getting younger each video 😀👍👌
Hi Erin! I am currently contemplating on buying one, be it Click and Grow and/or another one from a different company. Click and Grow’s warranty is only for 1 year for the gadget, 2 years for the lamp and their sprouting warranty if your pods don’t germinate. How much time has your gadget lasted? And have you had to use the warranty? Looking very forward to your response!
Cost less buying the pot of basil…
Hate the fact u have to buy expensive pods each time. Id rather not
I got this one for Christmas and I’m so excited about it! I’m wondering if I can just fill the pod with soil and plant seeds directly
Doesn’t that plastic cause harmful effects?
Great review. I was wondering, is it possible to use our own potting soil and seeds after the pods are finished?
can i grow weed lol
Thanks for your video. Approximately how many grams of herb can each crop produce in one month using this machine?
What kind of fruits can you grow in it?
Can we use our own soil to grow plants? Instead of buying it
Stellar review, it is informative and detailed. How’s the Smart Garden 3 at this point in time? Is it holding up or is it just hype? Considering getting one, I like the concept and the design but want make sure I am acquiring a quality product that would last and not get something that would end up in the recycling bin.
How long do the plants last please?
I really want to buy this for my teenage son. I think he would love this.
Why does my plant have green things
Can you mix and match the plants/flowers so they grow together?
will it attract bugs?
Just ordered one of these for my kitchen, cant wait to try it. Great review and your spot on about the app, it’s pretty lame
Nice review. I love this device, but I am a bit hesitant seeing that it uses so much plastic 🙁 the package the pods come in, the little dome…
Thank you so much! I just bought one and I’m really looking forward to this. Cheers!
Once the herbs have grown can you turn the light off longer than 8 hours, and just put the light on for one hour a day for instance?
cut them, don’t pluck them Cutting promotes growth.
Teeth are so white, had to close my eyes XD
I ordered one that was without the ground and seeds, it sais Smart GardOn Mt 1300. Should find phone number of the company since need help with couple of questions.
does it have to be pre planted soiled?
Pretty!
Thank you so much. I just saw this item on GMA and wanted to know if I should buy. I’ve wanted to have my own garden for a while but I live in the city. Since it’s on sale, I will get it right now.
Do the plants die at some point?
I do not have much experience, but isn’t it unhealthy to have water in there for a month? I can imagine it’s a place for bacteria?
This is the future
Trash
Are you the reviewer for BestBuy Canada?
I’ve got some white filmy stuff, growing on some of my pods?? I just got it…and even cleaned it already..why is there this white gross stuff on my pods?
Does this have all of the light spectrum?
Great video! I agree that the app is disappointing but I disagree with your critique on the products need of smart connectivity. Monitoring in real time would require a camera or possibly a sensor that measures plant height. These additions would significantly increase the cost which I feel would surpass the target cost of the product. Also, there is not a demand for monitoring outdoor gardens so why would there be a demand for monitoring indoor plants? The lights are timed to a specific schedule optimizing plant growth so I don’t understand why there would be a need to adjust the lighting from your phone. As for any other adjustments, I’m curious to know specifically what kind of other adjustments might be necessary.
it is actually a piece of junk dont buy this
Erin, They have these, which are similar to Bell Peppers: https://www.clickandgrow.com/products/grow-yellow-sweet-pepper-indoors
They also have: https://www.clickandgrow.com/products/grow-chili-pepper-indoors and,
https://www.clickandgrow.com/products/grow-red-chili-indoors for anyone else interested also. The two Chili Pepper selections are regular, and red HOT.
I have some real gardening experience, I just haven’t done it in a while due to lack of room here. The two Bell pepper plants I mentioned, gave me over 20 peppers before dying at the end of the season, so was able to also give quite a few to neighbors and friends. Hope you, and others find these links helpful! Have a great evening 🙂
Hi… when you buy the subsequent 3 packs, are they mix and match, or do you have to get 3 of the same kind. I was hoping to wind up with basil, flat parsley, and cilantro. My biggest complaint so far, and why I haven’t ordered yet, is that they’re out of stock for so many plants. I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but my last one is how long is the shelf life of the pods, before you "activate" them. Thank you.