The new way to grow your greens...

... it’s totally off the wall! Vertical farming is the latest big kitchen trend and it allows you to grow herbs and vegetables right next to your oven – always fresh, sustainable and varied.

Green revolution in the kitchen

There’s something growing in the living room. Houseplants can be seen wherever you look. Urban green is a major interior design trend at the moment. When scrolling through Instagram, you often see stunning interior jungles created by so-called “Plantfluencers”. But now these jungles are taking over the whole home and spreading to people’s kitchens. If it works in the living room, it must work in the kitchen too. However, the lush greenery in the kitchen has a special function: it can be eaten.

The concept of turning your kitchen into a garden is known as “Vertical Farming”. Vegetables, salad leaves and herbs are not grown horizontally, but vertically. It’s incredibly effective. The different growing options range from mini greenhouses on windowsills for cress through to temperature-controlled grow cabinets. These “Smart Gardens” have imaginative, futuristic names like Greenloop, Our Greenery or Urbanhive, which reflect their purpose: a small, green revolution right next to your cooker.

Optimal conditions

The principle of hydroponics is simple: seeds are sown in a substrate or in pads in small flower pots and then are given the best growth conditions with optimal light, fertilizer in the pads or nutrient solutions that the roots are suspended in. The plants can then be harvested after just a few days (microgreens) or weeks (salad leaves). With this method, there are no pesticides, genetic engineering or pollution. It also means that you can go for months without constantly having to buy new herbs or spices like coriander, chilli, mint or basil. You can even grow things like strawberries in your kitchen. Unlike with plants grown in the garden, with hydroponic systems you don’t need to worry about which plants are next to each other.

In addition, the systems are discreet and stylish. Beginners can start with simple indoor boxes for between four and eight plants with integrated LED lights. You don’t need to be an experienced gardener as the sophisticated system apps use sensors to analyse the plants and then notify you when they need to be watered or fertilised. The apps can even be set up to send push notifications to your mobile phone.

Smart Gardens: a multi-sensory experience

Jonas Hülskötter from the Münster-based start-up Urbanhive says: “For us, it’s not only about being able to grow fresh produce at home. We provide a multi-sensory experience. It’s fantastic to be able to come down to the kitchen every morning and see how your plants have grown and developed overnight. Children in particular are mesmerized by our systems.” Up to 15 plants fit in the Urbanhive boxes which can be hung on the wall as a set of three and so don't take up valuable kitchen space.

Always the perfect light

The founders of the Hamburg start-up Greenloop have come up with a particularly aesthetically-pleasing and technically sophisticated system. Their “Beet” system is a rotating disc that can be hung on your kitchen wall. It’s a real eye-catcher. The system can hold up to 18 different plants and you can control the lighting levels via the app to make sure that each plant gets exactly the amount of light it needs. “We focus on the germination and growth phases,” explains David Burkhardt, one of the company’s founders. “Our LED plant growth lights cover the entire spectrum of light that the plants need: white, deep blue and hyper red. We can control the light for each individual plant depending on the rotation.” The QR code on the seed pad packaging can be scanned via the app.

The Greenloop programme runs over several weeks and always knows exactly which light is right for which growth phase. It also lets users know the best harvesting times for the different plants via the app. The 4.5-litre tank in the back panel of the system provides enough water for up to three weeks, depending on the plants.

New furniture for the kitchen

The “Raumgarten” from Our Greenery is a more high-end option mainly aimed at families, staff rooms and upscale restaurants and the first pieces have already been delivered. The metre-wide grow cabinet has enough space for up to 60 plants and can either be integrated into a kitchen or used as a standalone piece of furniture without a connection to the water supply. “Between seven and nine kilos of herbs and vegetables can be harvested from this system,” says Daniel Bosman, who co-founded the start-up with his brother Florian in Berlin. “We firmly believe that more and more people will start to grow their food sustainably in their own homes in the future. We would be thrilled if people tried our system and experimented to find out what best meets their needs.” Our Greenery is currently working with chefs like Berlin-based Arne Anker (BRIKZ) to create individual plant collections so that you can grow and use the special herbs and spices from your favourite restaurants in your own kitchen.

Everything at your hands

The advantages of vertical farming are clear: you get a constant supply of healthy, fresh herbs, salad leaves and vegetables, the seeds are certified organic and the systems are incredibly environmentally friendly as they help to save water, energy, transport and packaging. But that’s not all. While you don’t need to put it quite as dramatically as the marketing team of one manufacturer that wrote: “Regularly handling home-grown greenery has a soothing effect on your soul. We want to help people make positive changes to their lives.” It’s true that gardening can help you relax, children can be introduced to nature and trend-concious homeowners can stay up-to-date and stylish.