This past month I cooked every single meal that I ate: no eating out, no delivery, and no packaged food. Something I noticed on my 90-percent-veg grocery bill each week was how much I was spending on things such as chives, microgreens, shisho, and other specialty greens (which make all the difference as a “topper” to soups, onigiri, and salads). I also noticed how quickly these edibles decompose after they’ve been cut; I could never seem to eat the whole bag of micro broccoli in time.
I’m now planning for a cutting countertop garden made up of more than the typical culinary herbs, with specific vegetables tailored to my interest. Here are 10 vegetable-growing kits that yield everything from rare mushrooms to wasabi greens to fennel and more.
Above: The Chef’n Microgreens Garden comes with soil, seeds, and a tray that is slender enough to fit on windowsills and countertops; $29.99 on Amazon.
Above: From Japanese brand Cultivate & Eat, a Mini Vegetable Growing Kit includes a plastic-lined paper bag modeled after a traditional rice bag, potting mix, and seeds. Shown here is the Shiso kit; also available are Wasabina greens and Hawk Claw peppers, each £7.99 each from Paper Tiger in the UK. A trio of Basil (Dwarf Bush, Dark Opal, Lemon Scented) is £17.95 at Sous Chef also in the UK.
Above: For a high-tech option (see our post on High Tech Herb Growing Kits for more), the Seed Pantry Grow Kit features plenty of veg options in addition to typical herbs and flowering plants; vegetables including mixed spicy greens, shallots, beets, wasabi, peas, and fennel come in pods that can be customized to the system. See Seed Pantry in the UK for pricing and options.
Above: The super-simple and low-tech Johnson’s Microgreens Growing Tray comes with coriander, arugula, and basil seeds to grow microgreens; £6 each from Kew Gardens in London.
Above: Click & Grow is a system that comes with pre-seeded cartridges that grow via “smart soil” (a nano-tech growth medium that accelerates plant growth) and an LED grow light. The system can be customized with vegetables such as the Garden Yellow Sweet Pepper Plant Pods seen here. Visit Click & Grow for more information. See the Click & Grow herb garden option in our post 10 Easy Pieces: High Tech Herb Growing Kits.
Above: From Foodie Garden, the XXX Pepper Grow Kit grows pepperoncini, habanero, and cayenne chili peppers in a slender rectangular zinc pot; $13.60 on Amazon. Also available is the Basil-O-Holic kit for $13.60 on Amazon and the Tomato Takeover Grow Kit for $20 at Uncommon Goods.
Above: For the countertop seed sprouter, the Alicja Patanowska-designed Porcelain Hydroponic Plant Grower is a porcelain funnel that sits on the rim of a drinking glass for an instant hydroponic growing condition; $27.51 each from Dowse in the UK available through Trouva. For more on the design, see our post Root System: Ceramic Plant Funnels from Alicja Patanowska.
Above: The Classic Veritable Garden is powered by an LED light and self-irrigates for up to three weeks. The kit comes with seeds to grow chives, cherry tomatoes, curly parsley, and basil; $200 through Goop. For more like this, see our post 10 Easy Pieces: High Tech Herb Growing Kits.
Above: The Seedsheet Grow-Your-Own Garden Kit comes with the soft container, seeds (embedded in something the company calls the “seedsheet”), and soil. The kit comes in different combinations: cocktails, pickles, pesto, pizza, caprese, salads, and herbs; $50 each at Food52.
