Grow Hydroponic Veggies, Even in a Tiny Apartment
Plenty of people want to have fresh veggies at home, but don’t have room for a veggie garden. The PlanTree is a concept from designer Nur Yildidrim that would give everyone the chance to have a live, growing vegetable garden – no matter how small their living space may be.
The PlanTree is a tree-like hydroponic garden that holds small pots with growing substrates like coco fiber. The bottoms of the pots extend downward into the chambers of the PlanTree to collect water and nutrients.
With a simple interface, the user can control every aspect of the growing environment such as light, pH, temperature, humidity and everything else the plants need to thrive.
The vertical growing system has a tiny footprint, allowing people with very small homes to have the kind of vegetable garden that even suburbanites with large yards will envy.
“Designed for the kitchens of 2025 households, planTree allows to grow organic food from seed to plants. Seeds or seedlings are placed into pot-like cups that are filled with soil substitute materials such as rockwool or coco fibre. Water and nutrients are added to system, where they are circulated through plants. A simple interface lets user to set up values such as pH, moisture and light. Plants are grown and cultivated in a controlled microenvironment with water, nutrients and humidity.”
“Design allows cultivation of organic food at home with less water and more efficiently, saving time and energy. planTree was honored in International Design Awards 2011 with Silver Award in Kitchen Appliances Student Category.”
Designer Nur Yildirim is currently getting her PhD at Carnegie Mellon University.
“Before Carnegie Mellon, I worked as an industrial designer for 7+ years in the industry, designing products ranging from medical to consumer electronics, assistive robots, and transportation. My work supported the R&D processes of clients across scales, resulting in 25+ shipped products, several patents and design awards.”