It's always useful to have fresh herbs to hand in the kitchen, but they can easily wither if not well-fed and watered. Click and Grow wanted to overcome this problem. Its Smart Herb Garden is now available. It plugs into the wall and lets users grow their herbs without having to lift a finger.
Gizmag first covered the Smart Herb Garden in March last year, when Click and Grow was raising funds on Kickstarter for its production. It's safe to say that the fundraising campaign was a success, reaching its target of US$75,000 in less than 48 hours and raising $625,851 in total. Since then, the firm has been finalizing production and shipping of the first devices to its Kickstarter backers. Now, the Smart Herb Garden is available for everyone to buy.
The device uses pre-seeded cartridges with the company's own "smart soil," designed to deliver the right amount of nutrients, oxygen and water to the plants. Cartridges currently available are chili pepper, mini tomato, salad rocket, basil, thyme and lemon balm, with plans to add peppermint, rosemary, strawberry and others to the range. Users are provided with a starter kit that includes basil, thyme and lemon balm and are able to grow up to three different types of herbs and vegetables at once.
To use the Smart Herb Garden, users need to add water and plug the device into an electrical socket. The device monitors the progress of the plants with sensors and software, adjusting the growing conditions accordingly. The device also features an LED grow-light that ensures the plants have enough light to thrive. An indicator light tells users when they need to top up the water, but, other than that, it pretty much takes care of itself.
"With the development of the Smart Herb Garden, we have gotten closer to our goal of a sustainable and pollution free future, while changing the way people think about fresh food," says Click and Grow’s Founder Mattias Lepp in a blog post.
The Smart Herb Garden is available to order on the Click and Grow website, retailing at US$99.95. A variety of refill cartridges are also available, priced at US$19.99.
The video below is the company's Kickstarter pitch for the Smart Herb Garden. The campaign is now finished, but the video still provides a good introduction to the technology.
Source: Click and Grow
