Instead of seed pods, the AeroGarden gardening system has smart pods — all due to a tablet controller that lets green-thumbed users customize their lighting and watering settings for a harvest season that never ends.

Partnered with the go-to fertilizer and gardening company MiracleGro, AeroGarden has released the new model in its hydroponic-cultivating line: the Bounty Elite, which can pre-program varying light patterns using a 45 watt LED system (the tiny jewel-like bulbs number at about 300), as well as set scheduled reminders for when to water your seedlings. Apparently, it works: their products can grow fauna five times faster than regular soil, according to the company's website.

Lifting the top of the device revealed a loamy hydroponic chamber and the exposed roots of the herbs from the seed pods — the only types of plants that can be grown with the AeroGarden are solely ones that can grow above-ground. The Bounty Elite model has the largest growing capacity per seed pod, with a maximum of nine spaces to place AeroGarden's pre-seeded pods.

What sets the domed stainless steel hydroponic grower apart from its past iterations is its attached tablet controller, which serves as the motherboard of the operation. The LCD-lit display, touchscreen interface and uploaded screen prompts also serve as a guide on how to optimize growing your seedlings, whether they're packaged by AeroGarden or purchased from another retailer.

The Bounty Elite's tablet tech also allows for three-month growth cycles, with the option to extend them into longer intervals for more intensive-to-grow veggies. Either way, the advantage of having on-season-tasting, home-gardened cherry tomatoes in the middle of winter? Tasty.