News
First big news of 2017: Working on a new DIY concept
2017 is off to a good start.
After a strategy day in the beginning of January, we spent some time with the team discussing and pitching new garden concepts to each other. Since there was an abundance of ideas, we decided that everyone will build a prototype of what our next garden should look like to sell their idea.
We got to work and ended up with concepts like this:
Prototypes ranged from 1 plant planters to farms that can be mounted on walls.
After seeing how much fun everyone had and how simple it was to build working food production systems using everyday items, it felt like we'd hit a goldmine.
What followed was some extensive research into existing DIY garden systems and a discovery that most DIY gardens and farms have one big problem in common - they tend to take a lot of time, effort and know-how to maintain and you still have to put a lot of energy in to make sure your plants won't die. Since our Smart Soil and plant capsule with the dome already function like a small greenhouse, it seems we might have a pretty great opportunity to really change how people grow their food.
So, we ventured out and made some additional concepts to legitimise the idea:
Gardens built in milk cartons, trophies, and glass jars.
Seeing the excitement of the team and understanding that the DIY systems really work and function as intended, we decided to proceed with making this a viable option available to our customers who want to have more variety and customisability with how, when and where they grow their plants.
So, how does it work?
The DIY kit consists of a plant cup with a wick that draws up water passively from the tank using a capillary action. This makes the plant cups ideal for nesting the Smart Soil capsules with seeds.
The plant cup functions much like a miniature green house.
The Smart Soil makes sure plants have the optimal amount of oxygen and nutrients while the cup makes sure they always have the perfect amount of water. All you need to do is add a light of place your garden on a sunny windowsill and you're ready to grow.
Is it difficult to build a DIY garden/farm?
No, it is not. Just select the garden base (it can be literally anything that holds water and fits our 10cm long plant cup with a wick), cut a hole in it's lid with a diameter of 6cm to fix the plant cup, insert your Smart Soil refills with the plant of your own choice and fill the tank with enough water for the wick to draw up water when needed.
Make sure you're plants have enough light and you're set to go!
Want an example?
Here's a garden we built in just 12 minutes (plants grew for 2,5 months):
The plant cups are already available for purchasing - let's DIY this! Click here to shop.
If DIY-ing isn't quite the thing for you...