Whilst cooking with fresh herbs is a simple pleasure, most novice urban farmers have never known a basil pot to last more than a few months. That’s why Futurefarms have turned to NASA’s hydroponic farming techniques to revolutionize herb growing for the not-so-green-thumbed. Reforming space-grade science into an elegant kitchen planter called a ‘Spacepot’, Futurefarms have set out to downsize the extraterrestrial farming technique into an elegant tabletop planter that grows perfect herbs in just 5 weeks, with almost zero maintenance.

Hydroponic farming—that’s the art of growing plants without soil—was first popularized by NASA. Widely associated with futuristic space gardens, by cutting out the soil from the equation hydroponic farms provide their plants directly with nutrients, cutting out the middle man to create bigger, healthier shrubs that grow much faster than their soil-situated counterparts. Maybe it’s the their extraterrestrial connotations, or the fact they always seem to be kitted out with endless complicated pumps and tubes, but when it comes to hydroponic farming, until now it’s been widely accepted that you do, indeed, need to be a rocket scientist to master the technique. And that’s a stigmatism Futurefarms set out to change with their ‘Spacepots’—elegant, hydroponic planters that bring the benefits of soil-free farming to the masses.

Branded ‘hydroponics beautifully simplified’ the Spacepot required no pumps, no electricity, and no extra parts to maintain. By mixing space-age technology with cutting edge design, Futurefarms have crafted a planted that delivers all the benefits of hydroponics without any of the maintenance. By using the kratky method—the simplest, most hands-off way for gardening—all the Spacepot requires from you is to fill the reservoir with water and nutrients, plant a seed, and watch your beautiful plant flourish in just five weeks. Fashioned of high-clarity acrylic and food-grade PET,the planter’s aesthetic is designed to represent its functionality—easy and simple.

Futurefarms – the LA based startup behind the futuristic and fashionable approach to gardening–comprises a team of designers, creators, and researches leading the field of personal hydroponics. ‘On a macro scale,’ they explain, ‘our mission is to have hydroponics be a part of everyone’s lives because we believe it makes us smarter, and more conscious of our health and well-being.’

http://www.designboom.com/technology/futurefarms-spacepot-hyproponic-planter-05-19-2017/