It’s been 1 year with my Click and Grow Smart Garden 9! Time to Review! I’m covering the full experience: setup, growing, harvesting, cleanup, the unexpected emotional roller coaster when someone accidentally committed a gardening cardinal sin. Plus testing their 100% sprout guarantee!
FYI, I received the Click and Grow Smart Garden 9 in exchange for social media coverage and posting once on my blog (this one!). However, every word here is my own without any editorial rights given over. All opinions here are my own. If something sucked, I say it sucked. If something delighted me, you’ll know.
First Impressions & Setup
The garden arrived very well packaged, which frankly it should be at this price point. Nothing rattling around, nothing crushed — solid first impression.
Assembly was almost comically easy. As advertised, it really does just click together. No tools, no guesswork, no swearing. Within minutes, it was ready to go.
Light
The built‑in grow light automatically runs on a 16‑hour on / 8‑hour off cycle, which mimics ideal daylight conditions while still letting the plants “sleep.”
I opted for the non‑Pro version of the Smart Garden 9, mainly because I wanted the limited‑edition sage green colour. The Pro model lets you control lighting via an app, but I hacked around that by plugging mine into a smart outlet so I can still turn it off from my phone when I want the room dark. The “9” refers to the number of pod spaces.
One thing to note: the light is very bright. Like, “full daylight in your living room” bright. So I shut it off whenever I want a cozy, movie-watching vibe.
Water
Low-tech but effective, you can tell the water level by checking the floating indicator. But I didn’t have to refill it at all the first couple weeks. The water reservoir is very large; about 4 liters (135 ounces).
Mobile App
The Smart Garden 9 doesn’t require the app but it’s useful. With it you can,
- Track multiple gardens
- Assign plants to specific slots
- Give them cute names
- Get notifications for each growth stage
It was surprisingly delightful getting the notifications on my phone to tell me what to expect at each stage. Also, some of the messages headed off any concerns that I had with plants I wasn’t super familiar with.
The app is smooth and easy to use. I have an Android phone so my experience is with that version. They also have an iOS version for Apple devices.
If you choose not to use the app, you can also get the same information on the website to guide you.
How the Plant Pods Work
Click and Grow’s system is essentially like Nespresso for gardening.
You buy pre‑made pods that contain seeds, nutrients, and growing medium balanced for oxygen and pH. You drop the pod into the cup, add water to the reservoir, and that’s basically it.
No soil mixing. No fertilizer math. Very low pest risk compared to traditional indoor gardening.
If you know nothing about plants, this system still works. Plus with the app or using the website, Click and Grow provides clear timelines online for sprouting, pruning, troubleshooting and harvesting.
Round One: Herbs & Fruiting Plants
What I Grew
Included with the Smart 9:
- Basil
- Thyme
- Parsley
Additional pods I added:
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chili peppers
- Wild strawberries
The herbs grew beautifully and predictably. Basil and thyme especially took off, and I was harvesting regularly.
Parsley lagged behind, but the app warned me that parsley is a slower grower — which turned out to be accurate.
Fruiting Plants
- Tomatoes were the overachievers. They grew huge (all the way to the lamp), had tons of flowers which bore lots of tiny yellow tomatoes! Very fresh flavor but not the sweet kind.
- Chili peppers flowered well and responded nicely to hand‑pollination.
- Wild strawberries stayed… well, wild. They blossomed with pretty tiny flowers which led to tiny fruits. I felt they were so small that you couldn’t really snack on them. But they were incredibly fragrant so they made the living room smell so good! Natural air-freshener!
As the plants matured — especially the tomato — I noticed the water reservoir needed refilling more often. Early on, I could go nearly three weeks. Later, I was refilling multiple times per week.
Pollination & Peak Plant Nerd Energy
I got to play bumblebee with a tiny paintbrush, manually pollinating flowers of the strawberry, tomato and chili peppers. Though actually, the tomatoes don’t even need that. You can gently shake the plant and literally smell tomato pollen in the air. It’s really a great scent.
Also watching flowers turn into fruit is absurdly satisfying. Every morning, I’d count the flowers and see which ones were about to turn to fruit.
For context: I thought I gardened as a kid. But looking back with adult eyes, it turns out my dad worked the garden below our apartment. Then after school, I’d watered it by sticking the shower wand out the bathroom window to water it below. I didn’t even go outside to water it most of the time. And since then, I’ve had this misguided belief that I was a green thumb and gardening was just sooo easy. However, this system lets me perpetuate that belief 😂
The Disaster (Not Click and Grow’s Fault)
Then… tragedy.
Someone in my household placed a sick nursery plant next to the Smart Garden, thinking the grow light would help it recover.
Experienced gardeners already know where this is going.
Spider mites.
They spread to the Smart Garden and caused absolute chaos.
I rinsed the plants repeatedly, usually twice a day, and managed to keep the garden thriving! Post-mites, the strawberries even produced fruit.
This pest maintenance was actually easier than with traditional indoor potted plants because I could pop the whole pot out of the garden, rinse the plant in the sink, and then pop it back in.
However this level of maintenance completely defeated the point of an automated garden for me. Through this experience, I discovered that I really don’t want to put in very much work! I declared, “No more bringing store-bought plants in the house! Pods or Nothing!”
I had forgotten a similar lesson 15 years ago when I brought a strawberry plant from a corner store into my apartment at the time. It spread aphids to my wide spread of indoor calendula, grape vine, stevia, and more. I never did take a photo of that lush garden and I regret it everyday 😭
Anyways after several weeks of this high maintenance situation, having harvested more parsley, thyme and basil than I could eat, plucked all the tomatoes that would be produced, and enjoying the fragrant strawberries, I cleaned out those pods but kept the chili pepper plants which had not yet reached their max.
My Redemption: Chili Peppers
The chili peppers, thankfully, were easy to manage as they were much smaller plants. They flowered, fruited, and produced more peppers than chili plants I’ve tried to grow traditionally for a year.
That alone felt like a win. Every time I look at these photos, I swell up with pride for my chili pepper plants.
Of course, they are annuals so after they finish fruiting their time with us is done.
Round Two: The “Perfect” Garden
After cleaning everything thoroughly, I planned my dream setup:
- Holy basil – for my favourite herbal tea and for Thai cooking; it’s impossible to find fresh locally
- Dill – my most‑used herb by far
- Thyme – mostly for vibes, let’s be honest. It’s just so cute when it spills over the sides of the garden
- Parsley – a well-used herb in my cooking. Plus, I had this as an extra pod from the last garden; might as well!
- Busy Lizzy flowers added for a pop of non-green colour.
While the Click and Grow website and app don’t have any indication, if you have pets, you can look up what plants are non-toxic to dogs and cats on the ASPCA website here. I have cats so I only choose plants that are non-toxic to cats. They never chew on my Click and Grow plants but it’s better to garden on the safe side!
The Holy Basil thrived and gave me tea everyday! Also known as Tulsi, it has a beautiful mellow and warm flavor that is reminiscent of clove and cinnamon but also slightly floral. It’s caffeine-free and calming and I loved having it both morning and night. You can also use it for cooking; especially Thai cuisine. But I mostly used it for tea.
The Dill was super wild! It just sprang up in tall, fuzzy stalks. They looked a little messy falling over but I placed little cardboard rings (from spent toilet paper rolls) at the base to help them stand up and look a bit more dignified. The scent was amazing and I loved having fresh dill for my salad dressings, protein marinades, making dill-flavored quick pickles, and it can be used for herbal tea too!
The Thyme grows in a tangled mass that creeps along the garden’s surface and spills over the sides in the most adorable fairy-like way. The fragrance comes out when you rub the little leaves: herby, green, and earthy. To be honest, I added these pods mostly for the look. I don’t cook with thyme super often so I got a lot of dried herb out of this one.
The Parsley grew slower than the others (as the app told me to expect) but eventually, it thrived just as well as the others. The flavor was just as aromatic as any store-bought parsley. Actually, all the plants I tried so far were just as good as store-bought or better. Mostly better because of the freshness.
… except the Busy Lizzies, which never sprouted. Disappointing? Yes. But also a great opportunity to pose as a regular customer and test Click and Grow’s 100% sprout guarantee!
Customer Service & the Sprout Guarantee
On their website, Click and Grow says they “will replace any and all faulty plants”.
So I filled out the form online — easy to find, easy to submit. I made no mention of having worked with them to make certain that I was going to experience their typical customer service.
On the same day I got a confirmation email telling me they had received my form. Then the very next day, I was told that replacements were on their way! Plus, they were including an extra pack of seeds. Soon after that, I had the new Busy Lizzie pods in hand along with a set of 3 pak choi! I was really impressed on only by the ease I got my replacements but the fast communication so I was never left wondering.
I was genuinely super impressed!
Re-planting grown pods outdoors!
I only have a shady balcony but it was summer when the dill, holy basil, and thyme were overflowing despite me harvesting herbs regularly. So I decided to experiment with re-potting the plants outside. I used some leftover potting soil that I had, moistened it, made a few spots to nestle in the grown pod plants and let them adapt to outdoor life.
I have a little experience that told me I should “harden” them off. That is, placing the pots outside for a few hours, then back indoors. Then gradually giving them more time outside, a few more hours each day for about a week before setting them out for their full-time outdoor life.
All of them thrived! They grew impressively large and I got even more harvest. More than I could cook with. More than I could “tea” with.
They lasted a few more months until the Calgary winter set in.
Is the Click and Grow Smart Garden 9 Worth It?
I went back and forth at first. It’s more expensive that a lot of other indoor gardening system on the market. Of course there are even more expensive ones too so Click and Grow lands somewhere in the middle. But in this economy, the price has got to be worth it! What makes this garden system unique is its:
- Extremely easy to set up and get growing
- Beautiful enough to live in your space (most other affordable options look so…utilitarian)
- Select from a deep & wide variety of plants that have been chosen with care to thrive
- Low effort, high reward
It scratches the gardening itch without turning into a chore. You mostly do the fun parts: watering, pollinating, light pruning, and harvesting.
Yes, it’s a closed system; you’re buying pods from the company. So it’s not 100% customizable. You can use their “grow anything” pods with your own seeds if you want more flexibility. There’s a facebook group where you can see what others have done to hack their systems. Though personally, I feel that kind of defeats the “low effort” aspect that I love so much.
Who is it for?
ME! Or maybe you’re not me but similarly want:
- fresh herbs and flowers (ditch the grocery store kind!)
- fun little fruits (like tiny tomatoes, chili peppers, dwarf peas!)
- to marvel at the cycle of plant life
- aesthetically-pleasing garden that can be displayed rather than tucked away
- all with very low effort
- don’t mind purchasing new pods two or three times a year (starts at about $34.95 for a pack of 9 pods)
There are also smaller systems which are great for beginners, amazing for gifts, and friendly for non-green thumbs and children too.
There are also bigger systems if you really want to go all in! Imagine a WALL of lettuce in your kitchen 😍 Every herb your culinary heart could desire!
Discount & Affiliate Disclosure
You can get 10% off any Click and Grow order (not just your first) using code MTK on the Click and Grow website.
This is an affiliate link so if you make a purchase through it, I receive a commission which supports my work. As always: opinions remain honest, whether or not affiliate links are involved.
If you’d like me to post more gardening updates, comparisons, or recipe experiments using Smart Garden produce, let me know. Next up, I’ve started a series of basil pods! I’m really excited to taste the difference between regular basil, Marseille, Red, Thai, and Cinnamon Basil. Plus I planted another holy basil and dill because I love them so much.
Let me know if you know any of these basil plants and share your favorite ways to use them. I will soon need ideas!
Bye for now 🌱
