Many of us living in tiny apartments can only dream about growing vegetables in our own backyards, but thanks to Foop, an ingenious home gardening pod developed by Japanese company C’estec, we can now grow veggies in the comfort of our own home.

Foop (a combination of the words ‘food’ and ‘people’) is a small-size hydroponic agriculture kit that allows users to grow plants in water instead of soil. Its designers claim that you can use Foop to grow small crops of popular vegetables, including lettuce, arugula, basil, parsley or shiso, all of which can be raised from seeds and will develop faster than non-hydroponic plants.

The elegantly-designed wooden frame of the Foop is is produced by craftsmen from Hida, in Gifu Prefecture, one of Japan’s most famous woodworking regions, but the device also comes with a clear acrylic cover that lets you check the progress of your crops. There are no buttons or switches visible on the Foop, because all the settings – temperature, humidity, light, water levels, etc. – are done via a smartphone app. The Foop will also regularly send notifications regarding the state of your indoor garden and alert you when the crops are ready to be harvested.

C’estec designed this gardening pod for people living in crowded cities like Tokyo who lack both space and extensive gardening knowledge, so it’s really simple to use. The compact device houses a set of moisture-rich sponge pods in which you plant the seeds. After that’s done, all you have to do is pair the Foop with your smartphone and you’ll receive a prediction of how long the plants will take to fully grow. Gardening enthusiasts can also alter lighting, heat and humidity via the dedicated app.

To ensure plants have everything they need to grow at an optimal pace, Foop relies on a number of built-in features, like LED lights, environmental regulation fans, CO2 sensors and a small hand pump for feeding air to the water. And just in case you’re not the kind of person who checks phone notifications every five seconds, the device features a small LED screen that can display 20 different statuses regarding the state of the plants. Once they are fully grown, all you have to do is open the clear cover, slide out the trays and help yourself to some home-grown veggies.

Foop will be officially launched in September, but C’estec has already started taking preorders. You’ll have to fork out ¥38,800 ($360) for it, but you should probably hurry and preorder, as the initial launch batch will aparently be limited to 100 units.

So now you can grow your vegetables indoor, you can raise bees for honey indoor, you can socialize on the internet. Soon you won’t have to leave the house at all, and when you do, you’ll probably just hop on your WalkCar instead of actually walking. Technology, man, you gotta love it!

Photos: Foop/C’estec

via: RocketNews24, Cnet