Winter is in full swing and now that the holidays are over, you’re probably ready to assess your health, your diet, and your lifestyle. Now is the perfect time to plan your garden! Did you read that right? Yes you did. No matter where you live, whether it’s a rural town or a city apartment, you can grow a beautiful garden full of fresh, healthy, organic produce with GroGrub.
Over 23 years ago, GroGrub founder Craig Borlik found himself living in a city apartment longing for the ability to grow a garden. An idea started to percolate in his mind: What if I could grow and water a garden remotely and watch it’s progress as it grows? He felt it could be done, so he set to work.
With his first prototypes, the technology was there, but the cost was high. In the beginning, a camera with the ability to tilt, rotate, and pan, with good resolution and remote capabilities started around $2,000, making it too expensive for Craig’s purpose. He kept with it though, and as equipment prices started to drop, Craig’s excitement grew, and GroGrub became a reality.
GroGrub offers the annual rental of a 12x12 garden plot which includes a patented four point watering system and high definition camera so you can watch your garden grow. Then, when it’s harvest time, the GroGrub team notifies you and you can choose how much and what you’d like shipped to your door in compostable and recyclable packaging. GroGrub offers an easy-to-use app that allows you to water on demand or set up automatic watering, and you can see your plot any time you want. You’ll see the seeds go into the ground, zoom in when there are tiny buds, and watch your vegetables bloom, develop, and ripen right before your eyes.
If you buy organic produce from the grocery store, you know it can sometimes be expensive. Even with the rental of GroGrub’s garden plot, coupled with shipping, the produce you grow in your plot actually ends up being comparable to and oftentimes less than what you’d find at the store. It hasn’t been picked up and handled and put down by others, and you actually watch the entire process happen.
“It’s a whole different ball game with food that’s grown like this,” says Craig. “The taste is unbeatable, and you can spend time with kids watching the process from start to finish. There are so many benefits- it’s educational, economical, and if you have excess produce in your plot, you can choose to donate that to local food banks.”
