I wanted to start growing my own food, so I turned to the Gardyn Home 4.0 — it's loaded with smart features to guide you through the process

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Though I've found success in growing indoor plants, I've always lacked the confidence to start my own garden. However, this year in light of rising food costs and supply chain issues, I was determined to change that, motivated by an interest in cutting down on grocery costs by growing my own toxic-free food from home. To do this, I decided to test the Gardyn Home 4.0, an indoor gardening system that makes gardening super easy by removing the restrictions of growing seasons and the need for large outdoor spaces.

At Business Insider, we are no strangers to reviewing the best indoor garden systems. Prior to testing the Gardyn, I tried the edn and while I liked the edn, it doesn't have an Android app and I wanted something that could grow more plants at a time. Gardyn sent me a 30-plant starter kit of edible plants, and I saw tiny leaflets within days — both in-person and through a live camera feed on the Gardyn app. The plants grow large thanks to automatic watering and lighting, and an AI assistant called Kelby, offers step-by-step instructions. Though Kelby costs a monthly fee, it delivers such easy instructions that I'll likely continue my membership for a while longer. Keep reading to see why I believe Gardyn 4.0 is the perfect gardening companion for year-round fresh food.

Design

The Gardyn 4.0 is sleek and fairly compact for being a little over five feet tall. In fact, it fits within a two-square-foot area. Three white BPA-free and FDA-compliant ABS plastic columns sit on top of a five-gallon water tank. Two LED light bars with 60 lights total curve in front of the columns with two video cameras attached. Each column has 10 yCubes, Gardyn's growing pods that contain a compostable casing, rockwool, and seeds. They purposefully face in different directions so that some yCubes receive low, medium, or high light. Gardyn places one type of plant or seed in each yCube.

The Gardyn 4.0 combines hydroponic and aeroponic technology, described as a hybriponic system by Gardyn and uses a closed water system that circulates vertically. In this system, sensors and cameras adjust water and light automatically for the best yield of plants. Another benefit of a hybriponic system is that it tends to produce larger and taller plants, including vining plants.

Our review of the Gardyn 4.0

Setup

The Gardyn 4.0 comes with a lot of different parts but they're well packed and labeled, making it easy to find what you need when the instructions call for it. Overall, assembly took about 30 minutes. I ran into a little bit of trouble with the middle column, accidentally placing it on the tank backwards. When I corrected that, I realized that the bottom pod of that column had twisted, and this was something I had to fix later on when trying to place the yPods in. I'm not sure what I did to mess up, but I'm positive it was a human error.

I received a 30-plant starter kit, which means that I received 30 yPods filled with rockwool and seeds. As mentioned, the yCubes in each of the columns face a different direction so I had to make sure to follow a chart to put the yPods in the correct yCubes. For instance, Green Bok Choy had to be put in a yCube that receives medium light, while Red Tatsoi needed to be placed in a high light-receiving yCube in the center column. Gardyn provided a graphic that told me where to place each plant.

After setting everything up, I placed the Gardyn in the corner of my kitchen where it couldn't receive any light from a window, to see how the seeds would grow with complete reliance on the system's lights. After plugging in the Gardyn 4.0, I turned on the switch and waited for the lights to come on about 10 seconds later. Connecting the Gardyn 4.0 to the app was incredibly easy and took minutes to complete. I'll delve deeper into the app below.

Plant options

When you're first starting out, you choose from the "Salad Lover," "Budding Florist," or "Chef Faves" pack, which contains 30 plants. These starter kits vary from time to time, so the Chef Faves starter kit that I ordered is slightly different from what you might get now. The Salad Lover kit is full of a bunch of greens and herbs like thyme, kale, perpetual spinach, breen, yellow chard, cilantro, and one flower (sunflower), and one vegetable (watercress). The Budding Florist is a 30-plant kit with 11 edible greens (sorrel, salanova, chard, etc.), four herbs (lemon balm, basil, etc.), and nine flowers (marigold, white petunia, lavender, etc.). The Chef Faves pack is a mix of greens, herbs, one flower, and one veggie (mini cauliflower). For instance, I didn't receive mini cauliflower in my starter kit.

After you grow your 30-plant starter kit, you then buy one-off yCubes from Gardyn, who offer a wide range of vegetables and flowers from catnip to lemongrass, mini broccoli, candy cane pepper, canna flower, radicchio, red cherry tomatoes, and more. Gardyn sells yCubes that are seedless if you prefer to use your own seeds. If you go this route, the company suggests choosing plant seeds that are determinate — or stop growing in size at a certain point — and smaller fruiting plants.

Can you make your own yCubes? Gardyn doesn't say on their site if you should or shouldn't, however, they're just rockwool and net cups, both of which can be sourced online at an affordable price.

The growing experience

I had the best time growing herbs and vegetables with the Gardyn 4.0, and I was so impressed by how quickly my plants grew. I saw my first little leaflet arising from the Green Salinova yPod within three days. By the 5^th day, there were 11 visible leaves in various pods. It took 9 days for all the pods to sprout. In the seven weeks that I tested, only one of the seedlings, a kale pod, died in the first two weeks. This happens sometimes, but thankfully, Gardyn will replace a yCube that doesn't germinate within 28 days.

Using the Gardyn 4.0 was easy. The light automatically turned on at 7 a.m. in the morning and turned off at 10 p.m. at night, adjusting the brightness throughout the day to whatever the plants needed. Thanks to a self-watering system I didn't have to worry about watering each pod, as the Gardyn 4.0 pulled water from the tank and automatically watered in the middle of the night or during the day depending on the plants' current growing stage. I let the Gardyn 4.0 make all the adjustments, though if I wanted to, I could have adjusted the light and water settings via the app.

In the testing of the Gardyn 4.0, I received a free month of membership, which is available to all new customers, so I could see how the Kelby AI assistant in the app provided insights and suggestions to grow my particular plants. Kelby was very useful. Even if you're a pro at gardening, Kelby offers specific insights into gardening with the Gardyn 4.0. Not only did it give me updates on germination or tell me when my Wi-Fi was disconnected, but it provided me with photos of my sprouts and shared insight on what the coloring of the leaves indicates. Most importantly, Kelby informed me when I needed to be hands-on in the care of the plants.

After nine days, Kelby told me to trim some of the sprouts in each yCube, which helps the plants grow large and healthy. The next day, I was informed to add plant food. A bottle of plant food is provided with every purchase. Kelby told me the exact number of teaspoons to add. Some days, I was given tasks to refill the water tank or to check the roots. On other days, I was informed to add Hydroboost, a formula to help the plants grow faster. (Hydroboost is not part of your initial starter kit but was provided to me for the review.)

Most tasks took minutes to complete. Refilling the tank can take a bit longer but no more than 10 minutes. I've only refilled the tank four times in the seven weeks of testing. Refreshing the tank, however, took 30 minutes and I've only had to do that once. To refresh the tank, I had to remove the top part — or the columns — from the water tank. From there, I emptied the water that remained in the tank and cleaned it with water and baking soda. After that, I added more water, plant food, and Hydroboost to the tank before placing the top part of the Gardyn 4.0 back on the water tank.

I've been using the Gardyn 4.0 for about seven weeks and in that time some of the plants have grown over 6 inches. There are some plants that are a few inches in height and others that are in between one and 6 inches. I'm at a point where I harvest leaves from some of the plants about once or twice a week. Most of the herbs — besides the dill, cilantro, and bunching onions — need more time to grow before I start harvesting.

Twice now, I've harvested large bowls of leafy greens. I think my favorite has to be leaves from the green bok choy and the green salanova. They're so crisp and great in a salad. That said, I was so impressed by the dill and bunching onions. Their flavorings are potent. Often, I'll use the dill to season chicken and add some bunching onions to a stir fry.

According to the brand, you can grow up to 10 pounds. of produce per month, but this depends on what you grow. Lettuce like Romaine can be harvested about three times over a four-week period and herbs are harvestable for up to 12 weeks. At. the fifth week, my plants were not quite ready to be harvested. I believe I'm still on the correct timetable — remember, it takes time for plants to grow from seedlings. I expect to be able to start harvesting within a few more weeks. My goal is to harvest from the plant a few times and then move it outdoors and transplant it in the ground.

You can stagger your harvest according to Gardyn. They suggest germinating 10-15 yCubes, then wait 7-10 days before germinating a new set of yCubes, so that you always have plants ready to harvest at any time.

App and membership

I really liked the design of the Gardyn app and how intuitive it is to use. Through the app, I can see the water level and the current light intensity and adjust the light intensity if I'd like. Tasks appear on the main page of the app (and send notifications to my phone), letting me know what to do — like refresh the tank or trim the leaflets — and when. At any moment I can see a live view of the Gardyn 4.0, and read through a plant guide with insight into all the possible things I might grow in my Gardyn.

Through the app, I can shop for new yPods or accessories, have my questions answered in a Help section, and follow instructions or read tips that the Kelby AI assistant provides.

While Kelby AI can only be used when you pay for a membership, I did find it exceptionally helpful, especially since I'd never used a Gardyn before.

The membership varies from $29-$39/month depending on if you buy a one- or two-year subscription or just go month-to-month and includes access to the Kelby AI, a vacation mode, free shipping, 10 free yCubes a month, and further discounts on more plants. While the price can add up, I see myself payingfor the membership for at least another full round of plants before I get the hang of how to use the Gardyn 4.0 on my own, but will likely try my success forgoing it in the future.

Cons to consider

The Gardyn 4.0 is $900, and while that does come with a 30-day plant starter kit, plant food, and a 2-year warranty, it's still a pricey investment. It's not the most expensive indoor garden on the market, but we understand that it might not be financially accessible to everyone.

The monthly membership, which can be paid annually, adds further cost. My perspective with the membership: you get 60% off yCubes with seeds from Gardyn, which means an Arugula pod is only $1.99 (compared to the regular price of $4.99) and a Burrito Pepper is $3.98 (regular price of $9.98). Typically, the yPods range from $1.99-$6.00 with a membership. Plus membership provides you with 10 credits/month which you can use toward yPods and take advantage of free shipping.

The question then arises, do you have to use Gardyn products? If you don't have a membership, yCubes can get quite expensive. Gardyn sells seedless yCubes (which are filled with rockwooll but no seeds) for $4.99/each. It would cost $150 to buy 30 yCubes with no seeds from Gardyn. You could make your own for over half that cost.

With a membership, you'd have to fork over an additional $480 a year (maximum), which is a lot of money. A membership might save you some money on accessories and such, but if your goal is to save on groceries with the Gardyn 4.0, it might feel like the money that you save is going back to Gardyn rather than in your pocket. Truthfully, you are probably saving some grocery costs. Let's break it down: The Gardyn 4.0 grows 30 plants. On average, each of the vegetables and herbs that are growing in my Gardyn 4.0 cost an average of $2.00 at the grocery store (some might be a little more or a little less, depending where I shop). So that's $60, and if I have the $39/month membership, then I'm probably saving about $21/month on grocery costs if I harvest all of the plants at once. I can harvest most of the plants multiple times and transplant them in my outdoor garden, which might save me more money in the future.

You don't need the membership to use the Gardyn 4.0, and truthfully, I'll probably stop my membership in the future once I get confident gardening without the Kelby AI assistant. I think I'll see major savings at that time, but until then, it can feel like a bit of a drawback to shell out an additional $39 each month.

What are your alternatives?

Gardyn offers a smaller version — the Gardyn Studio which has a 16-plant capacity and costs $500. It works in the exact same way as the Gardyn 4.0, except it's slightly smaller, making it a great choice for those in apartments, studios, or homes with less space.

If you're looking for something larger than the Gardyn 4.0, the Rise Garden 3 is your best bet. The stackable indoor garden can be bought in one, two, or three levels with three levels costing $1,199. (Two levels cost $949.) The design is different in that it has trays versus pods that can hold up to 36 plants each, for up to 108 plants. You'll have similar connectivity through an app. Not only does it offer more growing space, but you don't have to pay for a membership to access the gardening assistant which is a huge plus. There is a membership option, however, for ordering supplies.

Indoor hydroponic gardens are great, but we love the versatility of the Lettuce Grow Farmstand because it allows you to grow indoors or outdoors. The Lettuce Grow Farmstand can grow up to 36 plants (depending on the size you order), which are sent to you as seedlings (rather than seeds). The Farmstand has an automatic watering and lighting system, however, you can remove the lights and move the stand outdoors during the warmer months. The medium-sized Lettuce Grow Farmstand is $1,073 and can only grow up to 24 plants, which means it's pricier than the Gardyn 4.0, and doesn't have the same kind of value as the Rise Garden 3 which grows more plants for almost the same price.

The bottom line

In the past, my green thumb was limited to indoor houseplants non-edible plants that I grew indoors, however, I've always wanted to try my hand at growing healthy, non-toxic food — and with the Gardyn 4.0, I'm doing just that. I can grow food and flowers year-round indoors, harvest the plants multiple times, and even transplant them outdoors. The Gardyn 4.0 does a lot of the gardening work for me thanks to automatic lighting and watering, and through the Kelby AI assistant, I stayed informed on minimal maintenance tasks required of me to help my plants grow large and healthy. Sure, the Gardyn 4.0 is pricey and if you want to use the Kelby AI Assistant, you'll have to pay up to $39/month for a membership after your free month trial ends. Would I still suggest the Gardyn 4.0? Absolutely — especially for those who are new to gardening, don't have outdoor space for a garden, or don't want to be limited to warm weather growing seasons. I'm looking forward to many years of harvesting my own fresh, non-toxic vegetables and fruit, and with the Gardyn 4.0, you can too.