Micro gardening, the new passion of young people to reconnect with nature - Lifestyle

It will be at home for the longest time, it will be for the green horizons that we lack not being able to travel, it will be that we have understood that the connection with nature is good for us or maybe it will just be a fashion.

The fact remains that at a time when people have to spend more time at home and are looking for a higher level of self-sufficiency in everything, there is a new trend to keep an eye on in the lifestyle arena: micro gardening, which in particular Millennials like it.

Not surprisingly, in a recent survey, 62% of respondents admitted that vegetation was vital to their well-being in isolation.

But even before the health emergency there was a great renaissance for gardening.

Examples are green-themed TV programs, such as the British show 

The Big Flower Fight

, a sort of masterchef for florists (you can see it on Netflix) and the theme is on the rise, especially in Scandinavia and the United States.

In France, houseplants are having a boom and this species in large cities, as a reflection of a more general macro trend in favor of biophilia, a real movement that aims to reconnect with nature, as evidenced by the report by Nelly Rody dedicated to the phenomenon of micro-gardening.

The indoor garden, which can also have small greenhouse dimensions or in any case from a green or microscopic corner does not matter, in any case it will be a calming anti-stress, can be embellished with indoor plants that are now ordered online from DNVB - this like other trends stars the DNVB or Digitally Native Vertical Brands, also known as "D2C" (Direct to Consumer) or "V-commerce": a new generation of start-ups that had the courage to challenge the consolidated market segments in relation to commerce online, creating new trends and - in fact - new opportunities for consumers, compared to what the giants of the market offer. In Italy in the green sector there are Lezio, Bakker, Flobflower to name a few. Other European names are The Sill , Bloomscape or Bergamotte, some of which offer subscriptions.

Plant parenthood - Plant parenthood

Because houseplants are so much easier to care for than a child or pet, Millennials and Gen Z buy them like crazy.

They are the first generations to postpone parenting to stay free and flexible for longer.

In the United States, a national gardening survey showed that 80% of the six million first-time gardeners were between the ages of 18 and 34.

The Covid-19 pandemic has simply intensified this movement.

In a survey by one of Europe's largest tech retailers, AO.com, 62% of Millennials admitted that their green space was vital to their well-being during the lockdown and 48% thought it was the best part of their own. home.

Some of these green-

fingered

young people are also adepts of the

Cottagecore aesthetic

(Farmcore or Countrycore) that romanticizes rural life, perceiving it as a new form of self-care and slow life (ranging from fashion to cooking).

But there are also real advantages: studies have shown that

plants can improve indoor air quality, increase productivity, reduce stress and even increase immunity

while, on the other hand, the omnipresence of screens tends to give rise to feelings of anxiety. 

A variety of digital solutions,

apps like Planta, Florish, Gardenia and Vera

are emerging to help these "plant parents" take care of their young shoots.

Sprouting like mushrooms, smartphone apps now offer smart diagnosis capabilities, irrigation reminders, and instant access to expert advice.

And to start with, you can start with a nice hydroponic pot.

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A step towards self-sufficiency

Generations Y and Z love not only houseplants, but also edible vegetables.

On Pinterest, research on the topic of

indoor micro-vegetable cultivation

recorded a 223% increase in 2020 compared to the previous year.

New categories of food have emerged, such as "

vegetable" or "ornamental

", that is, ornamental flowers that look (and are) good enough to eat!

This generation of vegetarians and vegans also delights in fresh herbs and vegetables.

To suit their tastes,

Bloomscape

recently launched its "Edible Garden" section which allows them to purchase potted mint plants, micro tomatoes, chamomile and chili or easy to grow salad greens.

More and more city dwellers are looking for self-sufficiency, and this phenomenon got a boost a year ago during the first lockdown.

Consumers are looking for alternative means to achieve greater food autonomy and want to have their fresh products close at hand.

Once the prerogative of country life, green plants are now enlivening the interior spaces of city apartments.

The idea of ​​creating urban micro-farms was already sprouting at Ikea in response to consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.

The furniture designer and manufacturer has launched indoor gardening kits, such as miniature greenhouses, "to help you propagate plants in any space and keep your garden growing in all seasons."

By encouraging

home hydroponic practices

, the brand took a step towards a more sustainable view of homewares as early as 2016. Since then, the market has seen a proliferation of smart and self-contained hydroponic garden solutions with beautiful designs (e.g. Plantarium , PICO, Greenox and Miracle-Gro).

Suitable for beginners, these home gardening systems allow city dwellers to grow plants without having to worry about lighting or watering.

The

AeroGarden Bounty

system

can also be voice controlled by Amazon Alexa's virtual assistant, which makes the biophilia experience more fun and desirable.

Taking a more experimental approach,

 London-based

architecture, design and research firm

ecoLogicStudio

has developed a

seaweed garden kit called BioBombola

, developed during the lockdown to provide a sustainable source of edible plant protein (Spirulina).

The photobioreactor "absorbs the equivalent of two young trees in CO2, producing the same amount of oxygen as seven indoor plants", while promoting a satisfying daily interaction with nature ".

This futuristic initiative to bring hi-tech cultivation of micro-greens to cities also has other health benefits, according to ecoLogicStudio founders,

Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto

: "If, collectively, we transform air pollutants into highly nutritious foods, there will be fewer opportunities for viruses to exploit unsustainable food supply chains and for polluted atmospheres to reach and attack us. ”

Micro gardening has sparked designers, Trend Hunter talks about a big industry launch in 2021.

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They range from the ingenious

Terraplanter

, an "all-natural planter with a porous exterior that relies on a hydroponic system that requires no soil to grow the seeds", to the

Palm Urban "Green Glass"

table

- a functional piece of furniture designed to double as an elegant and spacious planter.

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A post shared by Palm Urban |

Decor & Furniture (@palm_urban)

Other noteworthy indoor planters include Bodega Rose's Air Jordan planter designed as a tribute to the iconic sneaker.

A hit on Instagram.

Plantone 

is a mini indoor garden that relieves most of the stress of keeping healthy greenery in the home.

The all-in-one system includes automatic irrigation and adjustable lighting, functions controlled by a smartphone app.

The product can accommodate up to five different plant species at the same time.

The mini indoor garden system boasts a water tank to ensure a maximum of 60 days In addition, the Led lighting system ensures constant exposure and turns on automatically when there is no natural light.

 Hexagro

, based in Milan, offers

Poty

for well-lit rooms or balconies,

a real vertical vegetable garden of 20 or 40 plants, compact, for fresh vegetables and herbs, perfect even for those who fear not having a green thumb because it is equipped with a digital assistant. .

"With Poty we want to raise awareness of urban farming and bring agriculture back to the places where people live every day, urban centers, allowing them to grow as much as necessary without using chemical pesticides and above all by containing food waste" - declares Alessandro Grampa co -Founder di Hexagro - "But above all to rediscover the well-being that gardening and more generally taking care of plants brings to people who have no way of living in close contact with nature." The same brand has

Living Farming

interiors

Tree

, a beautiful structure illuminated to accommodate from 24 to 78 plants of small fruits, edible, aromatic flowers, medicinal herbs, spices, leafy vegetables with a aeroponic technology and LED lights for horticulture and Hexsoft automation software.

If we the thumb is really black the trend novelty are

the real stabilized and preserved flowers

.

Mirai Flowers

, the new Italian home decor brand, proposes

and of all kinds, not just roses.

And

Dream in a box,

 a project by Francesca Giuli, flower & event designer, uses the technique to create floral compositions inside elegant boxes in which floral decoration becomes almost art.