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.
