I’m obsessed with space, space travel, and space colonization. I’m the wide-eyed guy at the party who will corner you and tell you all about the wonders of space, whether you want to hear it or not. I particularly enjoy seeing or reading about how to survive in this harsh environment, where arable land is hard to come by and alternate sciency methods of growing food need to be found. In sci-fi movies or TV, you’ll often see pioneers growing plants in self-contained systems that give off a warm but cool glow. I’m a big fan of Roy Walford who grew vegetables within the confines of a biosphere and became a big proponent of longevity through diet (LongLife = Nutrition - Calories). So, when a Christmas lightning deal flashed across my screen last December, my impulses kicked into high gear, neutralized my self-control mechanisms, and caused me to click on the add-to-cart button. This initiated a cascade of impulse buying that culminated with a package at my door, containing the space-age iDOO 20-Pods Indoor Herb Garden Kit, Hydroponics Growing System with LED Grow Light.
Ganesh guards my iDoo garden and gives me the wisdom not to mess things up
My knowledge of gardening, plants, and hydroponic systems is fairly low. But thanks to the magic of youtube, I learned how to put the system together and get it to a state where I was able to insert various seeds in the conical germination pods. There was no method to my madness. I had a bunch of seeds laying around from previous attempts at gardening, so I just picked the ones that I thought could grow in the small containers. There are four containers with a 2L capacity, which I filled with a mix of water and fertilizer (provided in the kit). A panel of led lights hovers above the containers, supported by telescoping rods on either side. The idea is that you raise the lights as the plants grow.
On Stardate 2021 December 5th, I planted seeds for peppers, tomatoes, parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, cumin, and basil.
Drone view without the drone
The lights can be ‘programmed’ to turn on and off at a given interval. Unfortunately, the system doesn’t have an internal memory, so if the it gets disconnected then you have to program it again at the right time. It’s a rather basic light system, and you can’t do much more than set up a rudimentary interval, but so far it’s been holding up very well.
I love this eye-level perspective. There is something primeval about it.
The water needs to be changed every week or so, along with the fertilizer. To be honest, I haven’t been very diligent with this aspect of things. Nevertheless, I already ran out of fertilizer, and thankfully, the kit came with extra beads of fertilizer alchemy to make more plant juice.
Lady Thyme. Isn't she cute?
Slowly but surely, the plants have grown, and some have even made it onto my dinner plate. Not all the seeds germinated but those that survived have been growing steadily. The tomato grew too fast, so I had to remove it and put it in its own pot.
Oregano is looking hairy. Is this normal? Do I need a plant shaver?
I like the space age look of the system. It has the minimal aesthetics of Japanese design (common in Apple products), accentuated by the round corners of the containers and the high-tech looking pods. At night, the light provide excellent ambiance. So, I like the fact that it serves not only a practical but also an aesthetic purpose.
Leaning in style
The images were taken at various stages of growth throughout the two months that the system has been operational.
Parsley canopy
A hitchhiker on this galaxy. Not grown from seed but store-bought. I was delighted to see it actually sprouted leafs!
Look at all that growth. I bet you could dump a body there and nobody would ever find it.😳
Looks pretty ticklish, don't it? I swear I didn't rub myself against the parsley to test it.
Strike a pose.
As you can see, I am having a lot of fun with this system. I really dig the space-age aesthetics. I've already put some of the herbs on a delicious pasta dish. The aromas and flavors were popping. I like that it's low maintenance and gives my working space a cool mad-science lab vibe.
All images by @litguru
I grow old school in the ground but then again I have the privilege of a 3x2m patch of soil but these are also good for people living in highrise situations. Everyone needs to grow stuff
Excellent! I imagine that it's a lot of hard work. I'm hanging high in the air, as you guessed, so no access to land. Now that I've kinda successfully grown this patch, I'll look at other systems to increase the yield (look at me with the farm-talk).
Especially now. 👍
That is heaven! some of my crops withered since I am always on the move and nobody really around to take care of them. Yours look fantastic. I can imagine making pasta and just pluck the fresh parsley! Bokchoi is also easy to grow, do you have them around? are you interested in growing them?
Thank you! I'm really enjoying this hydroponic system. It's low maintenance, and the little maintenance there is feels very geeky and tech, so bonus for the user experience.
It did feel really cool picking the herbs and adding to the meal because it completely changed the character of the dish. So the fact that they added another dimension to the meal was superb.
I don't have bockchoi but will definitely give them a try. The plants would probably look amazing.
It looks so nice. Feeling more confident about starting my own garden, wish me luck y'all!
I look forward to seeing your garden. Good luck!
I like that it includes holes to poke in the labels, though I still prefer to label my pots. Things can get mixed up quickly once transplanting begins.
Which of your store cuttings are working out best?
I do have to be careful with the labels because they fall off easily. I saw someone on YT covering the holes to prevent mold from growing.
I only had two pieces of lettuce that sprouted roots, so I cut them up and put them in the cone frame. They actually grew! So that was fascinating to me. The rest are all grown from seed.
Thank you for reading!
I love your crops, they look so healthy. If I may ask, are some of your crops into Hydroponics?
Thank you! Yes, this is a hydroponic system. The containers are filled with water and fertilizer. You put a seed in a small cone then you place it on the container. The plant will grow roots, and they will then touch the water and grow. Really neat.
I would like to do this also, good luck to me (^_^)
👍