A Farm Designed For Spaceships, Now In Your Kitchen

ORIGINAL: FastCoExist

Taking care of plants can be difficult, as anyone who has left a trail of dead herbs and flowers behind can attest. This device helps take some of the guesswork out of home growing.

How does your garden grow? If you’re ever on a space voyage, it will probably grow in a slowly turning rotary device that ensures plants equal access to light, water, and nutrients. This rotary arrangement--a slim tire-shaped container that holds plants while slowly rotating around a central hub with an LED light--guarantees optimal use of space and energy. It’s just not much to look at on your countertop.

A design firm in Milan, DesignLibero, has given the concept (reportedly inspired by a NASA prototype) a redesign with its Green Wheel, a small table-sized version. The Wheel is intended to grow fresh greens all year round in urban homes. A small engine sends plants on an infinite circular orbit around a light source at the center, and the plants take root in coconut husk fiber. A dousing of water keeps the plants alive each time it passes the reservoir in the base.

If that’s not enough for you, DesignLibero has created another must-have for the ecological kitchen: the Fluidity, "a dish drying rack that lets you grow your fresh herbs and any small plant you want."

Fluidity. Photo: DesignLibero