Use clever technology to stop killing your herbs

Growing your own herbs in winter can be a bit of a hassle if you’ve got a courtyard like mine, relatively devoid of sun between May and September.

Plus there’s the risk of one of these new, fancy low pressure storm systems washing them away. And the caterpillars, or whatever obliterated that last sacrificial pot of dill.

Alternatively, the rest of the year comes with the whole “remembering-to-water-it” part, as many a pot of shrivelled summer basil can attest to.

One solution grown in the minds of two Belgian-based buddies who met studying engineering – Florian Paquay (“gourmand”) and Romain Trigaux (“cooking lover”) – is the Calla, a “multifunctional indoor garden”.

With a 33-centimetre diameter, it can hold up to six plants, which should be enough for the fresh version of at least one herb mix. It grows the plants hydroponically, with a LED light source, controlled water supply and nutrient sticks to keep them well fed. The process is automated, with a light that flashes at you when the water needs refilling.

Each plant can be removed separately for harvesting, which is handier than wandering out into the garden after dark with the kitchen scissors, or buying each precious burrito-bound bunch of coriander from the supermarket.

Paquay and Trigaux set up the urban-garden-focused start-up 4Senses, and worked with designer Jean-François Parisse as well as Carah Condorcet – a horticulture research centre – to nut out the best design and try out various prototypes.

It’s currently in its kickstarter phase, with manufacturing due to start in July. It should be on the market in 2017.