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10 Coolest DIY Indoor Garden Concepts With Smart Soil
A fully-functional LEGO garden by one of our R&D engineers
With localized small-scale food production taking an increasingly important role in the sustainability of the future of food and agriculture, we thought of giving Click & Growers a chance to show off their creativity and enable them to grow their own food with no effort, even if they don't fancy buying a Click & Grow indoor herb garden or farm.
And so, after sharing our DIY garden and farm experiments, we asked members of our community to share their ideas and concepts with us, so we could help make 10 of them happen.
To this date, we've received 621 emails with unique DIY indoor farm and garden ideas that would use the Click & Grow plant capsules, and it was both incredibly inspiring and tough to choose 10. Here's a list of the 10 DIY indoor garden/farm concepts we're going to help make come true by collaborating with the authors intensively, providing free plant cups, advice from the team and regular check-ins:
1. The Kidrobot Munny Garden
by Brian T.
Different Kidrobot Munny design examples from their blog
To provide a little background, the Kidrobot Munny is essentially a white, blank 3D toy, "ready for scribbling, painting, dressing up, and designing into whatever your imagination desires".
Brian's idea is to "grow one Click & Grow plant capsule of the top of a Kidrobot Munny so I can customize it and make a stylish design with the Click & Grow coming out the top of its head". We reckon it might look something like this, but even better:
2. A Tribute To Old Computer Cases
by Chuck W.
An example of "computer-gardening" from Web Ecoist
Every year, we dispose of more than 20 million tons of electronic waste, a big portion of which leaks toxics like lead, mercury and cadmium into the soil. Chuck (who works in IT, by the way), is proposing to use old computer cases for growing plants. We definitely enjoy the idea of celebrating the history of computing and giving it another life rather than letting it contaminate our food.
3. A Painting That Doubles As A Garden
by Robert M.
Since my girlfriend and I already use your Smart Herb Garden and love it, I'd like to take it a step further and combine our other love of painting. The idea I propose would involve having a large portrait painted in which the subject's hair would have pockets for the DIY garden cups. As the plants grow, so would subject's "hair", completing the portrait in a very visually appealing 3-D manner. I feel it's a great way to incorporate artistic expression into something that can tell the story of how important it is for us to reconnect to our food, and ultimately nature.
This was definitely one of the most original ideas we received - can't wait to see it come to life!
4. A Mason Jar Takeover
by Bharathwaj V.
We've already noticed Bharathwaj's experiments with the Click & Grow plant capsules on his Instagram, so we were very glad to receive his pitch for spreading the green to walls, windowsills, balcony, and the glass wall of the conference room of his office. Plants are proven to improve productivity, so we're giving this a sure go!
An example of Bharathwaj's previous experiments - basil after harvesting.
5. The Can Garden
by Jonathan S.
Garden walls and complicated constructions are great, but growing your food at home doesn't need to involve long planning and a degree in engineering and construction. So when we received Jonathan's email, saying he "would upcycle soda and beer cans into a hanging garden", we knew we wanted to work with him. Also, cans might look even better in your living room than plastic bottle gardens, wouldn't they?
Rosenbaum hanging bottle wall garden, as reported by Bit Rebels
6. The Chameleon Terrarium Garden
by Kaspar K.
Many have asked us about plants for their cats, what's safe to eat for their dogs etc... Kaspar has taken pet-friendly gardening to the next level, and we're sure his chameleon will enjoy having some greenery around:
I have built a 2m high custom terrarium for my chameleon. Everything in there is automated and I've minimized the upkeep with lots of different systems. One thing I've always wanted to build is automated garden in there - one wall of the terrarium for chameleon safe plants.
7. The Doll Head Garden
by Bailey A.
We're always thrilled to see people combining their passions. In Bailey's case, it's gardening and hairdressing:
I'm a hairdresser and have a ton of old doll heads that I think would make really bad ass planters and I would hang them on the wall in my kitchen for herbs.
Can't wait to see the result! We're sure Ryan Murphy and the cast of the American Horror Story will love the idea.
Head planters by The Whoot
8. The Family Project
by Steph B.
Seeing families getting together and educating their children about food and growing it is always a good feeling, and we encourage parents to let their kids set up their Click & Grow systems. And we'd love to help Steph educate her son on the topic by building a DIY garden together - by his design, of course:
I homeschool my son, who is becoming an avid gardener with a keen interest in ecology and enviromental issues. This system could be a really great addition to our curriculum! After some discussion, we settled on building a system with an old building block set (recycling!) to grow kale and tomatoes. We also plan on building an automatic light system and fluid level monitor. Regardless of the outcome, this has been a very productive discussion and I thank you for that alone.
9. A Love Seat Window Garden
by Michael F.
Michael seemed so taken over by the idea of transforming his old bed frame into an advanced and fully-functioning indoor farm, we could not NOT name him as one of the winners. He described his idea in a lot of detail, including a "very high gloss arch", "lovely rich pastel colors", "a highly reflective mirrored finish" and "a nice little irrigation system" among other things. We're excited!
10. A Van Vertical Garden
by Darius Z.
The mobile home trend is really picking up, and we'd love to explore how one could grow food in them, too. So we were thrilled to receive a detailed concept from Darius, and we're sure it'd be a massive upgrade from this:
Garden in a van, as found on Pinterest
We'll follow the progress of each of these projects closely and communicate with the authors on a regular basis, and we'll definitely share the finished projects with you as well!
We'd like to thank everyone for sharing their thought-through concepts, and we hope to be able to help you make all of them come true no matter if you are among the winners or not. For that purpose, we have made our DIY kits available for preorders on our website already now:
Have any of these ideas inspired you to build your own DIY garden or farm? Share your concepts and experiments in the comments below - we'd love to see them!