Hobbies
What Do I Need to Start Home Hydroponics (2026): One Kit, Six Parts, About $106
Start home hydroponics for about $106 with a 6-pod countertop garden: LED light, seed pods, nutrients, and controls in one box.
Last checked: 2026-09-18
1 shoppable picks ~$106
What’s in this pack
6 essentials · 1 shoppable picksThe full kit has 6 things. The picks below are the ones we can link to a specific product today; the rest are budget picks you can source anywhere (they're in the list below).
Prices are approximate — tap any item for the live price. We earn a small commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you.
If you want fresh herbs in an apartment this winter, buy one countertop hydroponic garden instead of a shelf of grow lights and a tray of soil. The checked AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden was $106.21 and includes the pump and water bowl, a 20W LED grow light, six pre-seeded pods, a bottle of liquid plant food, grow domes, and the instructions. It is the best indoor garden for beginners here because one box replaces the whole list of separate purchases.
Hydroponics just means growing with the roots in water instead of soil. The LED light does the sun's work, the pump keeps the water moving, and the control panel tells you when to add water and food. What changes: no potting soil, no mess on the counter, no windowsill that has to face the right direction, and fresh herbs in January. What does not change: plants still need light, water, and food, and this size of garden tops out at plants about 12 inches tall. That limit shapes everything else on this list.
The six parts in one kit
- The garden unit: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden is the countertop base with a water bowl, a pump, and a six-slot grow deck. Six plants fit at once, which is more than most people actually keep going, but the extra slots mean a failed pod does not end the hobby.
- The LED grow light: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden puts a 20W full-spectrum LED in the hood over the pods, with an automatic on and off timer. The light is the part a windowsill cannot reliably provide in winter, so it is the piece you are really paying for.
- The seed pod kit: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden ships with six pre-seeded pods. Every pod is a ready plant start: the seed sits in its own grow medium, and you just drop it into a slot. No seed starting trays, no dome trays, no germination mat.
- Liquid plant food: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden includes a 3 oz. bottle of the nutrient mix plants need in water. Tap water alone will not feed them, and this bottle covers the first stretch of grows.
- The control panel: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden has a touch display that reminds you when to add water and when to add plant food, and a vacation mode that keeps plants watered while you are away. The reminders are the feature that keeps a first garden alive through a busy week.
- Grow domes and the guide: AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden includes the small domes that sit over new pods while seeds germinate and a printed guide for the first cycle. The guide covers when to remove domes, when to feed, and when to harvest.
Those are six parts from one box, not six purchases. The product page lists the garden unit, the light system, the power adapter, the seed pod kit, the plant food, and the domes as included, which makes the kit a fair test of the hobby instead of a drawer of half-finished plans.
Start this weekend
Unbox it, fill the water bowl to the fill line, drop the six pods into the deck, snap the light hood on, and plug it in. The panel walks you through the light timer on first power-up. Expect sprouts within a week or two, and your first herb trims around three to four weeks in. Snip leaves from the outside of the plant and let the center keep growing, and the panel keeps the water and feeding schedule honest.
The cheap path is the kit and nothing else. No extra light, no second unit, no pH testing kit on day one. The included guide and control panel handle the routine, and the only recurring buys are refill bottles of plant food and replacement pods when a grow finishes.
What to skip
- A second grow light or a bigger LED panel. The built-in 20W light is sized for the six pods, and extra light does not make herbs grow faster enough to matter at this scale.
- A vertical tower or a 9-pod system. Those are the upgrade tier, after you have grown a season and know you want more volume. A tower also wants floor space and a taller ceiling.
- A grow tent. That is a different hobby: bigger plants, more equipment, more power use. The countertop unit is self-contained.
- Potting soil, pots, and outdoor seeds. That is container gardening, and it is the cheaper path when you have a yard or a big sunny window. Hydroponics and soil are different setups.
- A pH meter and nutrient measuring kit. Useful once you start chasing specific crops, unnecessary for the first couple of cycles. The kit's system handles the basics.
The total
The checked AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 was $106.21. The math is $106.21 for the unit and light, $0 for the seed pods, $0 for the plant food, $0 for the control panel, and $0 for the domes and guide: $106.21 + $0 + $0 + $0 + $0 + $0 = $106.21, or about $106. Refill pods and plant food are the running costs after that, and they are not hidden inside the total.
Related packs
Frequently asked questions
Is hydroponics cheaper than soil?
For most people, no. Soil gardening is cheaper once you have pots and light, and it wins for tomatoes, root vegetables, and anything that wants more than about a foot of height. Hydroponics wins where soil is awkward: an apartment with no yard, a windowsill that gets poor winter sun, or a kitchen where you want herbs you can snip while cooking. The countertop unit costs about $106 up front, and the recurring buys are plant food and seed pod refills.
What is the best indoor garden for beginners?
A 6-pod countertop system with a built-in LED light and pre-seeded pods is the sensible first buy. The checked AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 was $106.21 and includes the water bowl and pump, the 20W grow light, a six pod seed kit, a bottle of liquid plant food, and the instructions in one box. You plug it in, add water, drop in the pods, and the control panel handles the reminders.
What can I grow in a countertop hydroponic garden?
Herbs do best: basil, parsley, dill, thyme, mint, and cilantro. Salad greens like leaf lettuce and compact greens also do well, and short flowers work if you want something pretty. The 12-inch height limit is the real constraint. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash want more room and a bigger system, which is a later upgrade, not a first purchase.
How much does it cost to run a hydroponic garden?
Less than the kit. The 20W LED light running about 16 hours a day works out to well under $2 a month at typical U.S. electricity rates. The included 3 oz. bottle of plant food lasts a while, and refill bottles and six-pod seed kits are the recurring purchases, roughly $10 to $20 each depending on the mix you pick. Compare that to buying fresh herbs at the store all winter and the cost story writes itself.
Do I need to change the water in a hydroponic garden?
You top it up, and the control panel reminds you when. The unit shows a water reminder when the bowl runs low, and the plant food reminder tells you when the next feeding is due. Follow the included guide for the full cleaning cycle between grows, and use the vacation mode when you leave town so the pump and light keep the schedule for you.
How we work
How we research and review
StarterPacks Editorial Team researches the products and writes the packs. We choose items for a specific starting point, then check the listing before we link to it.
For each linked product, we open the retailer page to check the price and availability, confirm that its Amazon ASIN still resolves to the right product, and compare important claims with manufacturer specs. We do not call an item hands-on tested unless the page explains what was tested.
This pack was last checked on . We revisit pages when products, prices, or advice change. Prices and stock can move after a check, so the live listing is the final word.
Read about the StarterPacks Editorial Team and our standards.