Fresh herbs and vegetables straight from the garden are the ideal addition to just about any meal, but not everyone has the time, backyard or knowledge to grow them. That's where GardenByte's Herb Garden comes in. It's a smart and stylish indoor planter that takes the guesswork out of growing your own herbs and vegetables all year round, while being a beautiful addition to any home.
Developed by a team of MIT engineers, the Herb Garden takes advantage of the latest hydroponics plant-growth technology. Simply place the seed pods in the planter's grid tray, add water and the supplied custom nutrients, and the computer-controlled Herb Garden takes the reins from there, informing you when it's time to tend or cultivate your plants via a mobile app.
The computer monitors the surrounding environment, tracking ambient light intensity and spectrum, the air temperature and relative humidity, and water temperature, flow rate and levels, to maintain the ideal growing conditions. It can even step you through adjusting the taste of the herbs by altering water and light ratios. And if you're heading out of town for a while you can remotely switch to "vacation mode" in the app to automatically slow the plant growth while you're away.
The modular design of the Herb Garden lets you mix and match up to 39 different plants at once. Small plants can be placed close together to maximize variety, or large plants can be given plenty of room to spread out. And ensuring the planter maintains a sleek, smooth look, any unused locations in the grid tray are topped by a blank pod cover.
An array of powerful LEDs that simulate the Sun during the day help grow the plants three times faster than other indoor gardens and up to six times faster than plants grown outdoors. The lenses and a shroud ensure all the light is directed onto the plants and doesn't spill out into the room, while in the evenings the device switches to gentle candlelight LEDs to create a classy display for the growing plants.
Ensuring the Herb Garden will match the decor in any home is the fact the base is available in a choice of three different woods: cherry, maple and walnut. All the units are made by hand from high-end, locally sourced materials and measure 30 inches wide, 31 inches high and 7.75 inches wide.
The companion app also includes a selection of recipes for each plant you're growing and how to prepare them for cooking. And when it comes time to replant or try some different plants, additional seed pods and the nutrient solution can also be ordered directly through the app.
Learn more about the Herb Garden here.