I love gardening, but sometimes it feels like an uphill battle. No matter how diligent I am, there always seems to be some problem: The zucchini plants have vine borers. The basil bolted before I could harvest it. The tomatoes aren’t getting enough water. It’s incredibly frustrating, and sometimes it makes me want to give up my summer pastime altogether.

So when I discovered hydroponic gardens, which promise to make gardening easier and yield even better results, my interest was piqued. The garden will take care of watering the plants itself? The plants will get all the nutrients they need without any soil amendments? Sign me up!

There are two big-name brands in the hydroponic garden market — Lettuce Grow and Gardyn — and while both gardens do the same thing, they have very different designs. I wanted to find out which model works better, so I put them both to the test this summer, using the hydroponic systems to grow lettuce, fresh herbs, and even vegetables like zucchini. If you’re thinking about investing in a hydroponic garden of your own, here’s what I thought about each product and how to figure out which one is right for you.

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What is a hydroponic garden?

Hydroponic gardens are a popular investment for people who want to grow herbs, greens, and even vegetables without the space requirements (and mess) of traditional gardening. These systems grow plants without soil — instead, the seedlings are solely fed a nutrient-rich water solution. Some hydroponic gardens can even be set up indoors and are equipped with a full-spectrum LED that replaces the need for sunlight.

Many hydroponic systems, including Gardyn and Lettuce Grow, have a vertical design that allows you to grow multiple plants in a small area. This makes them a great alternative to traditional gardening, especially for those with limited outdoor space. There are other benefits to hydroponic gardening, as well: Plants often grow faster because their roots absorb nutrients more efficiently, and hydroponic gardens use less water, as the system recirculates it rather than letting it seep into the ground. There’s also less risk of pests, diseases, and weeds.

How does a hydroponic garden work?

Hydroponic gardens are generally less work than a traditional garden, as they’re mostly self-sufficient. They use a pump to circulate water over the plant roots several times per day, allowing your seedlings to absorb the nutrients they need to grow. For indoor gardens, they also have an LED light that turns on and off during the day to simulate natural sunlight.

However, hydroponic gardens aren’t fully hands-off. You’ll need to make sure the water tank is full and mix plant food into the water tank periodically. Most gardens come with their own blend of plant food, which contains the essential nutrients that plants would normally get from the soil — without it, your seedlings will be stunted. Beyond that, it’s just a matter of letting your hydroponic garden do the hard work until your plants are ready to harvest.

Gardyn vs. Lettuce Grow: We tested both hydroponic gardens

If you’re looking for a full-size hydroponic garden for your home, there are two main brands out there: Gardyn and Lettuce Grow. While the end result is the same, the design of the two products is quite different. We wanted to see which hydroponic garden is best, so I spent the summer testing them side-by-side. Here’s what I thought about each one.

Gardyn Studio review

The Gardyn Studio is a high-tech indoor hydroponic garden, and it’s designed specifically for apartments and other small spaces. It takes up just 1.4 square feet, yet it can grow up to 16 plants at once. (The brand also has a larger model, called Gardyn Home, which can hold up to 30 plants.) This garden is Wi-Fi connected and needs to be used with the Gardyn app, which keeps tabs on the water level, feeding schedule, and plant growth. The app will also send you reminders when your garden needs tending.

This vertical hydroponic garden has an LED strip that runs the full height of the tower, providing the light your plants need to thrive indoors, and its base can hold up to 4 gallons of water. The Gardyn is equipped with a smart camera that monitors the growth of the plants, and if you opt into the brand’s Membership, it can even use AI to provide recommendations on what your plants need for optimal growth.

The Gardyn Studio comes with a pack of 16 seed pods to get you started, but the brand has more than 100 different plants that you can buy through the app. There are lots of herbs, leafy greens, flowers, and small vegetables to choose from, and prices range from $4.99 to $14.97 per plant, depending on the variety. (You can get a discount if you have a Gardyn membership.) Your plants are shipped in “yCubes,” which are small plastic containers packed with a moss-like material and plant seeds, and all you have to do is pop them into the Gardyn tower to start growing.

What we like

I set up the Gardyn Studio in my home office and tested it over the course of three months. I started out with the “Chef Faves” starter set, which includes a mixture of herbs and greens, but if I buy more plants for it, I want to try growing strawberries and flowers, too. After several months of testing, here’s what I think is great about the Gardyn.

• It has a sleek, attractive design: I can be quite the stickler for aesthetics, so I was pleased that the Gardyn has an attractive design that doesn’t take up too much space. It was easy to tuck into a discrete corner of my office, and its modern form is actually quite stylish.

• It’s fully equipped for indoor growing: My office is situated in a dark corner of our house, and houseplants have never thrived in that room. However, the Gardyn had no problem growing lush, happy plants. Its full-spectrum LED provides all the “sunlight” that plants need, as the plant food that you mix into the water supplies essential nutrients. The brand does recommend putting the garden somewhere that stays in the 65-75°F temperature range and 50-75% humidity range, but it will still work even if the ambient conditions fluctuate.

• The app offers guidance and reminders: One of my favorite aspects of this hydroponic garden is the app reminders. The Gardyn app makes it virtually foolproof to take care of your plants, sending you notifications when you need to add water, mix in plant food, trim back seedlings, and so on. I am notoriously bad at remembering to water plants, so having an app that reminds me what needs to be done is a lifesaver.

• The seed pods sprout and grow quickly: If you’ve ever sprouted seeds the old-fashioned way, you know that germination can take a long time. So I was quite surprised that (almost) all my Gardyn seed pods sprouted within four days! (There was only one variety that didn’t sprout at all, and Gardyn will replace your yCube when this happens.) The plants also grew quite quickly, and most were ready to harvest within a month.

• It has a special ‘vacation’ mode: If you opt into a Gardyn membership, you have the option to turn on “Vacation Mode” if you’re ever going away for an extended period of time. It’s basically a reduced light and watering schedule that stalls your plants’ growth (on purpose) so you don’t have to worry about them being harvested while you’re away. How cool is that?

What we don’t like

There are a few downsides to the Gardyn that I noticed after several weeks of testing, and some of the cons might be dealbreakers, depending on how you want to use the garden.

• It’s very noisy and bright: Obviously, I knew that the Gardyn Studio would have an LED for the plants, but I didn’t anticipate just how bright it would be — or how long it would be on each day. Even though it was in the corner of the room, the LED strip was bright enough to light up the whole space, and it stayed on until 9 p.m. It would have bothered me if the garden were in a common area of my home — something to keep in mind if you have limited space available. The unit is also quite noisy when the water pump turns on. It only runs for a few minutes at a time, but it was disruptive when I was on work calls.

• The membership is very pricey: I think the most disappointing aspect of the Gardyn is that many features are only available if you opt into the membership, which costs $249 annually or $25 monthly for the Studio. (The membership cost is even higher if you have the larger Gardyn Home.) The fee unlocks features like Kelby, the brand’s AI-powered gardening assistant, which can provide more individualized care guidance. Other member-exclusive features include Vacation Mode, unlimited time-lapse videos, and monthly credits to spend on new plants and supplies. Certain plant varieties, like cherry tomatoes and mini pumpkins, are also only available to members.

• It can’t grow larger produce: If you’re hoping to grow larger vegetables in your hydroponic garden, the Studio probably isn’t the best choice. You can get seed pods for produce like jalapeño peppers and strawberries, but it’s not big enough to grow plants like zucchini, cauliflower, or cucumbers. Instead, it’s best for herbs, lettuce, and flowers.

Lettuce Grow Farmstand review

Lettuce Grow is another popular hydroponic gardening system, and it was actually cofounded by actress ​​Zooey Deschanel. The Original Farmstand (the version I tested) can be used both inside and outdoors, but it’s mainly recommended for outdoor use due to its larger form. If you don’t have an outdoor living space, the brand also has an indoor-only garden called the Farmstand Nook.

The Original Farmstand has an expandable design that can hold anywhere from 18 to 36 plants, with up to six plants on each of its removable “tiers.” The plants are spaced evenly around the circular tower, so it has a 360-degree design — meaning you can’t really put it up against a wall. The Farmstand takes up 4 square feet of space and has a huge 18-gallon water tank at the bottom, and it needs access to a GFCI power outlet for operation. Assuming you’re putting it outdoors, the brand recommends placing the Farmstand in a location that gets six hours of sunlight per day.

When you order a Farmstand, you’ll get a starter set of plants, and unlike other hydroponic gardening systems, Lettuce Grow’s plants arrive as already-sprouted seedlings. There are more than 100 varieties to choose from in total, including a wide range of herbs, greens, vegetables, and flowers, but plant availability is limited based on the time of year. Each seedling costs $2.99.

What we like

I tested the medium-sized Farmstand, which holds 24 plants. I set it up on my deck in early May and used it over the course of the summer. I was able to try a range of plants, including several lettuce varieties, vegetables like cherry tomatoes and zucchini, and even flowers like pansies and snapdragons. Here’s everything I liked about the Lettuce Grow Farmstand:

• The plants ship as seedlings: Unlike the Gardyn’s seed pods, which require a few days to germinate, the Farmstand’s plants ship to your door as seedlings that are already a few weeks old. This gives your plants a jumpstart and shortens the time to harvest. It also saves you the hassle of dealing with seeds that don’t sprout.

• The design is expandable: One of the features I like most about the Farmstand is that the design is expandable — or shrinkable. You can take off tiers if you want to grow fewer plants or add on an extension kit to accommodate more plants. You can even outfit the Farmstand with a Glow Rings kit if you want to move the tower indoors during the winter.

• It’s able to grow large produce: Over the course of the summer, the Farmstand did a phenomenal job growing lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, and a variety of herbs, but I was most impressed by its ability to handle larger produce varieties. In particular, I was able to grow a zucchini plant on the lowest level of the tower, and it was every bit as productive as the ones in my actual vegetable garden. It produced 8-inch squash with no problem, and it made me eager to try out other large plants that LettuceGrow offers, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and even cauliflower.

• There’s no app required: Lettuce Grow does have a companion app that you can use alongside your Farmstand to track seedlings, get maintenance reminders, and find recipes for your produce. However, the tower itself isn’t Wi-Fi connected, and you don’t have to use the app if you don’t want to. I have way too many apps on my phone already, so I appreciated that I was able to use this hydroponic garden without downloading another one — and that there aren’t any features locked behind a membership.

• Its components are replaceable: I was surprised that the Farmstand’s water pump ran on a manual timer, but I quickly realized the benefit: If it breaks, you can easily replace it. With high-tech products like the Gardyn, it can be challenging — if not impossible — to repair broken components, but almost every piece of the Farmstand can be swapped out if it breaks. In fact, you can buy replacement parts right on the brand’s website, including everything from pumps and timers to gaskets and lids.

What we don’t like

After several months of testing, there were a few things that I didn’t love about the Lettuce Grow Farmstand.

• It has a larger, bulkier design: The best word I have to describe the Farmstand’s appearance is “quirky.” It has a bulbous white plastic base, and the upper tiers flare out, creating a squiggly silhouette. It looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss novel. The medium-size version is just over 5 feet tall, and while I didn’t mind having it out on the deck, I certainly wouldn’t want to have it inside the house. It’s big and bulky, and it’s also nearly impossible to move around once the base is filled with water.

• Plant varieties are limited by season: Lettuce Grow offers more than 100 plant options in total, but only a small selection is available at any given time. The brand rotates its offerings based on the season, as some plants grow best in warmer vs. cooler weather. If I were to purchase new seedlings right now, there are only around 25 plant varieties to choose from.

Gardyn vs. Lettuce Grow: Which is right for you?

At the end of testing, both Gardyn and Lettuce Grow yielded lush, happy plants — many of which looked better than the same plants in my traditional vegetable garden. However, the two hydroponic gardens cater to very different needs.

The Gardyn Studio is best for tech-savvy people who want to grow plants indoors. I’d recommend going with Gardyn if:

• You want to grow plants indoors.

• You’re mostly interested in herbs and greens.

• You like high-tech features.

• You want extra growing guidance.

• You don’t mind paying a monthly subscription fee.

On the other hand, the Lettuce Grow Farmstand is great for people with outdoor space who want an alternative to traditional soil gardening. Choose Lettuce Grow if:

• You want a low-maintenance garden for your outdoor living space.

• You want to grow larger vegetables.

• You prefer a low-tech design.

• You want the option to expand your garden down the road.

No matter which option you choose, you’ll be able to grow a plethora of vegetables, herbs, flowers, greens, and more in just a few square feet of space. Personally, I’ll be continuing to use the Lettuce Grow Farmstand as part of my outdoor gardening setup — it’s proven to be an efficient way to grow lettuce and herbs to use in my cooking!

If you have any questions about this piece — or you just wanna chat about your favorite products you think we should check out — send us an email at shopping.editors@aol.com and we’ll write you back!

Curious about how we test and choose products at AOL? Here’s a quick explanation, from our editors.