Plug and grow: The smart herb garden

With over half of the world’s population living in cities and with green space ever dwindling, any type of innovation that allows people to grow vegetables and herbs without using up space is always welcome news. This is probably why a new plant-growing kit called the Smart Herb Garden has received more than six times its pledge goal on Kickstarter.
Smart garden: The Smart Herb Garden is especially intelligent because it requires very little attention from the owner. Humans Invent spoke to Mattias Lepp, the creator of the Herb Garden, to find out how it works. He says, “It grows the plant without the need for constant watering or fertilising. All you have to do is fill the water reservoir.” So, the user simply plugs it in and fills the small water tank until a light indicates it has received the required amount of water. Each box comes with cartridges containing the seed of anything from tomatoes, peppers to basil, with each one lasting up to two years. The specially designed LED lights also keep the herbs growing when there is less light during winter months.
Nano particles: What is particularly clever about the Herb Garden however, is the material used to feed the plants. Lepp says, “There is a special nano material which takes care of the nutrients and aeration of the plant, as well as the ph level etc.” Nutrients and oxygen that feed the plant are found in the nanotech capsules, providing the precise balance needed for the plant to grow. One of the problems in traditional growing for potted-plants is the need for frequent watering to keep the plant alive balanced against the risk of draining away essential nutrients that comes with over-watering. With the Smart Herb Garden, the frequency with which you need to add water is absurdly low. Lepp says, “There is a small indicator which tells you if you need to add water but we’ve been testing it in our office and you only need to add water once every two months. It’s not very often.” Before the Smart Herb Garden, Lepp created Click and Grow (also the name of his company), that sold 50,000 units but, based on feedback from customers, the new design has been introduced with certain adjustments, including the lighting system.
NASA inspired: Lepp’s initial inspiration for building smart gardens came seven years ago when he read an article about a space expedition. Lepp says, “I read an article about a NASA Mars mission and one part of the article was about growing plants in space and this is where I first came across aeroponics, understanding it was possible to grow plants without soil.” Aeroponics, a system where plants can grow in an air chamber without the need for roots to grow in soil, was inspired by nature after the observation that certain orchids in Japan growing on trees are fuelled by the air. While Lepp has gone on to use nano particles instead of air, it was an eye opener for him to realise that the traditional use of soil was not the only method for growing plants.