Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the most important things you and your family can do to stay healthy. Naturally, most of us will head down to the nearest market to pick up fresh greens and fruits, but growing your own food will save you money in the long run, reduce your environmental impact and guarantee food safety.
Getting started is as easy as finding a nice sunny spot in your home, a small pot, potting mix, seeds and tender loving care. You can even grow them indoors with these gadgets designed to make indoor gardening as high-tech as your connected home can be. Plus, growing indoors means no obstruction to common areas, and no risk of people tampering with your precious shoots!
Hydroponic System
Mini Garden Kit, www.easi-grow.com
A soil-free hydroponic indoor planting pot, with the combination of a self-irrigation system and a special planting medium, promotes most plants and herbs to grow right in your home. It is also compact, easy to clean and you won’t have to deal with potting mixes or soils.
A self-contained kit is the easy way to get started into gardening. A wide variety of greens can be planted, ranging from tasty veggies to exotic tropical plants.
Aeroponic System
Aerospring, www.aerospringgardens.com
The Aerospring is a compact, automatic, self-watering vertical gardening system. Aeroponics is a branch of hydroponics that introduces more oxygen into the roots, which is said to promote growth and improve yields.
Proudly made in Singapore, the indoor kit comes with everything you need to get started, including exhaust fans and lights. It is capable of growing 27 plants at once.
LED Grow Lamps
Horticulture Grow Light System, www.eco-light.sg
Be it using soil or hydroponics, growing plants indoors requires light. Fortunately, lighting technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. While any light can be used to grow plants, the standard bulbs may not have enough color or offer the light spectrum which plants need.
LED grow lights are the latest on the market today. Extremely energy-efficient, they have an ultra-low heat output and offer a plant-friendly light spectrum range. The lamp can be raised or lowered depending on the height of the plant so as to provide sufficient intensity required for proper growth.
Automatic Watering System
EcoDuino, www.dfrobot.com
Another element of growing plants indoors is water, and it is something that has to be mastered by experience. Fear not with EcoDuino, designed to maintain the right amount of moisture for growth if you are growing plants through traditional methods.
A series of microcontrollers, sensors and actuators collect data such as temperature, humidity, light intensity and water your plants automatically when they are thirsty, or at predetermined intervals. The only thing you need to do is manage your EcoDuino system through a regular computer with a graphic user interface.
Grow Tent
www.amazon.sg
Grow tents let you have fresh produce year-round by creating an appropriate environment for your indoor garden. While a basic grow tent allows you to control the light and humidity, it can be expanded with other options to control temperature to replicating different climates inside a grow tent
Grow tents often come with a reflective material inside to reflect and intensify the light, ensuring that plants receive adequate light even when stacked on top of each other. A grow tent can also be fitted with a carbon air cleaner which scrubs air of any fertilizer odour before it gets out of the tent.
