The company behind the Smart Herb Garden we reviewed back in 2014 has launched a new indoor garden on Kickstarter. The Click & Grow 25 system promises to grow “substantial amounts of greens for everyday use, without becoming a time-consuming hobby.”
“I started the company with a dream to make fresh food available and accessible for everyone and with the Click & Grow 25, we finally made it happen in a sustainable way,” said Mattias Lepp, the founder and CEO of Click & Grow. “With the impact of population growth and the demand on our natural resources, it is inevitable for us to become more self-sufficient. I believe we are all going to be growing some of our food at home soon and I’m certain we’ve developed the best solution to do just that.”
The company likens the setup to a capsule coffee machine, but instead of coffee pods, users would pop Click & Grow’s proprietary Smart Soil plant pods into a patented tray system. More than 70 plant varieties are offered, including 20 fast-growing leafy greens. Each plant pod will cost between US$1.50 and $2.20.
The seed-containing pods have been designed to provide sufficient nutrients, and maintain moisture, root oxygen and pH levels, and an automatic watering setup and built-in LED lighting is reckoned to result in more nutrient-rich leafy greens, fruits and herbs than store-bought equivalents, and they’ll grow faster too.
A tray containing plants that are ready to harvest can be removed from the Click & Grow 25 device, and will stay fresh for up to a week. Meanwhile kitchen growers can place another tray in the system to keep the indoor farm production line going.
The company says that the microwave-sized system will provide year-round weekly harvests of pesticide-free produce while sipping only 200 kWh of electricity per year. A modular design allows for up to three units to be stacked to scale up production for larger families, and a mobile app can provide timed plant care, tips for harvesting, alert users when the water tank needs a refill, facilitate lighting control, and more.
The Click & Grow 25 indoor garden is currently the subject of a Kickstarter, where pledges start at $499 and if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in February 2022.
Click & Grow puts a veggie patch on your kitchen countertop [New Atlas]