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Lettuce Grow Has a Plug and Play Farmstand That Automates Gardening

05.01.20 | By
Lettuce Grow Has a Plug and Play Farmstand That Automates Gardening

Alongside baking and working out from home, gardening has become an extremely popular new hobby of late. While Earth Day may compel many to seek to get their hands literally into the soil for the first time, the learning curve for new gardeners can seem daunting. That’s where growing solutions like the self-watering, self-fertilizing hydroponic system offered by Lettuce Grow could prove to offer an easy entry point for supplementing our diets sustainably.

Founded by Jacob Pechenik and Zooey Deschanel – yes, that Zooey – Lettuce Grow is a vertical growing system available in five sizes designed to support anywhere from twelve to thirty-six edible plants. The Farmstand operates by combining a tiered container accessorized with a water pump and timer that automates supplying water and nutrients to each plant in carefully measured amounts, taking out the guesswork normally associated with garden bed or in-soil techniques.

The hydroponic system is also a great deal more efficient in its space requirements, producing the equivalent of a 40-square-foot planter bed in just 4 square feet using just 1/20th of the amount of water. Black thumbs will be heartened to know the system requires only minimal maintenance once plants are established, with 3 weeks wait on average before a hydroponic harvest can be enjoyed.

Like every modern appliance and device, there’s also an app developed to aid in coordination of efforts to grow using the Farmstand from a selection of over 200 fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The largest hurdle for most small space dwellers who would most benefit from a balcony-friendly growing solution is its price: the smallest 12-plant Farmstand is priced at $348, plus a plant refill subscription between $49 and $69 per month $2 for additional seedlings – a sizable investment for automating a laborious task into a convenient plug-and-play experience.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.