"Streamgarden" Hydroponics Kit from Green Fortune

This "Streamgarden" counter-top hydroponics kit is cute, having used an AeroGrow for several months that uses a related technique ("aeroponics"), I tend to think you'd be better off just buying a few cheap plastic pots and some soil and doing it the old fashioned way. The idea of only having to water once per week is nice as first, but you soon discover you have to give periodic maintenance to the water chambers to prevent mold, not to mention paying for the electricity to run them.

Growing plants in soil isn't hard—it was probably the very first thing we learned to do as a species on our way to civilization—and paying $150 for some pots isn't as trouble-free as it may first seem. Save the hydro/aeroponics for Epcot and missions to Mars. It may be slightly easier to get plants to grow inside with hydroponic systems (and lamps, which the Streamgarden does not include like the AeroGrow), but when you're ready to transfer the plants into bigger containers, you'll have a much greater success rate with soil. (Although hardy plants, like peppers, can sometimes survive a transplant from aeroponic environment to soil.)

Green Fortune's Streamgarden [Apartment Therapy]