Click & Grow

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas break! Today, I want to focus my post on a rather different topic than usual: Click & Grow is a new technology developed in Estonia that enables us to become our own gardeners, even without a green space in our household. Inspired by my own Christmas present this year, I thought I would share this innovative technology with you on growing food in your own smart garden. There is nothing better than to pick some home-grown berries from your own garden in a summer morning to go into your breakfast. But in the absence of a garden and  persistence for caring for the plant, Click & Grow smart gardens can do the trick.

Cherry tomatoes in a Click & Grow pot (what I will be growing as well)

(Source: http://www.clickandgrow.com)

'Inspired by NASA, we've created a solution that gives plant roots an optimal amount of water, oxygen and nutrients at all times.

It's a bit like giving plants a personal trainer, a chef, Harvard schooling, loving parents and a dog.

Flowers and herbs will love growing up in our smart garden!' 

Click & Grow plants do not need any watering or fertilisation, all the work is taken care of by sensors, processor and special software in the pot itself. The fact that they do not need consistent watering means that the essential nutrients are not flushed out of the soil as in a traditional growing pot. The smart soil of Click & Grow contains required nutrients that are released according to the plant's growth cycle. The masterpiece of this all is the smart soil (nano technological growth medium) that contains pockets of oxygen even if wet and makes sure oxygen and nutrients are spread equally. Check out their website here: http://www.clickandgrow.com/.

(Source: http://www.blessthisstuff.com)

For me it sounds like a very interesting idea, but I am still to find out how it exactly works and whether it is worth the money and can it live up to its expectations. I am not a big gardener myself (due to the obvious lack of space or a garden in central London) and I do believe robot gardens are the thing of the future. Some people might find Click & Grow taking away the need for love and care in your garden. Some say a regular pot does the exact same thing. But the fact is, Click & Grow is spreading across the globe and more people are growing their own herbs, berries and vegetables with it. The inevitability of this technology is that it is more expensive than an ordinary growing pot but I will let you decide for yourself whether you are pro-Click & Grow or not. I look forward to seeing my cherry tomatoes growing in my pot already (will definitely show you an update in a few weeks)! This technology may able us to grow our own chillies, strawberries and tomatoes without shipping them in from across the globe. I believe Click & Grow is showing us a glimpse of gardening future but it still has a long way to go with the need to make this technology more affordable. I leave you with a short video of how Click & Grow works, hope you enjoyed this little detour!

In my next post, I will return to the idea of sustainable farming and what we can do to make our food industry less energy intensive and reduce its impact on the environment.

Till next time,

Laura