The urban greenhouse-less are not doomed to a life of seasonal CSAs (although they are a good thing) or wilted produce from the mega grocery store down the road (a bad thing.) Innovations of the gardening kind are popping up for the city set who want to grow their own food in the smallest of spaces. One of the new kids on the block is Edn, a plug ‘n play vertical garden system.

Tiers of Garden Joy
Edn is a vertical garden system that packs a hard punch—making it possible to grow up to 21 vegetables at a time inside the comfort of your own home.

It’s a three-tiered shelving unit that you hang on your wall and plug-in. There are 21 slots for vegetables and herbs, which you fill with your choice of seed pod.

Tech-Savvy Cultivation Coach
Here’s where it gets even easier: Edn comes with an app, which acts as your personal gardening assistant and teacher. In your app you record which plants you’ve chosen, and it will do much more than tell you when to refill your water tank, though it will do that as well. The app also teaches users about the indoor gardening process such as how to recognize when plants have reached germination, and when they are ready to be harvested.

The Icing on the Kale
Besides learning, filling the water tank on command, and replacing nutrients when you’re told to, the rest of the process is automated. That means you have to be extra creative to mess it up. You’re going to grow vegetables and herbs with Edn successfully, despite your minimal efforts. The icing on the kale is how much you will learn in the process.

DIY Garden Hacks
Here’s another particularly popular indoor gardening system of the DIY variety. It’s an IKEA-hack called ELIOO whose main components are off-the-shelf IKEA storage boxes. The indoor farm system is completely hydroponic and on wheels, so you can chase the sun or move the plants outdoors at will. Find out how to make your own.

ELIOO

And So it Flows
While it can’t grow 21 varieties and doesn’t have wheels, the Hydropod, a sleek countertop  hydroponic planter, is as functional as it is fashionable. Its concealed water pump pushes water from a reservoir in the base to the top portion of the planter where it flows to the bottom of the planting cups. See more of design student Blake Burell’s creation.

Hydropod

Growing Some Curves
While there are a number of tools out there for automating the gardening process, this one’s got cultivated curves. Milan designer Stefania Minnella’s vertical self-sustaining hydroponic system, Elica Idroponica, automates all the tasks busy people might neglect: irrigation, lighting and the dosing of nutrients. And like many Italians and Italian-designed products, it’s good-looking. Learn more about how this indoor garden can easily make your life healthier.

Elica Idroponica

Sleek Apartment Farming
Silver winner of the Fast Company Idea Awards, the Nano Garden’s got one up on Mother Nature. Instead of relying on the unpredictability of sunlight and rain to feed the plants, Nano Garden’s built–in lighting promotes plant growth while water from your apartment’s plumbing quenches the plants’ thirst. Check out how easy it is to use.

Nano Garden

With all these options and many more, it might be high time to say, “Goodbye green grocer, hello apartment farmer.”