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Step aside, spruces, Christmas cactuses and Poinsettias, and take cinnamon, clementines and cloves with you. There's a new Christmas King in town - with an exotic-sounding name, Biblistic background and thousands of years of experience. Meet Hyssop.

 Click & Grow Dwarf Basil for Smart Herb Garden plant test

The Experimental Refill for Smart Herb Garden is definitely the most utilized one in our HQ. Basically, 70% of plants growing there are something new, that're not out there yet. And it seems to be one of the most popular ones amongst the Click & Growers all over the world as well!

From the beginnings of time, plants were there not only to feed us and make the world more beautiful, but also to deliver messages. We're sure you've read some old tale back when you were a kid about a man who gave a rose to his woman as a symbol of love. Even Shakespeare recognised violet to represent faith in his Hamlet.

And so we asked ourselves - what if we'd thank the people around us with plants? After all - Thanksgiving is coming up soon! And this time we want to give a gift of meaning and life to our most beloved ones, rather than yet another Christmas sweater.

Gif: Hrushikesh

We have already touched the topic of plant communication briefly before. While it might seem that each tree and flower is enjoying peace and solitude throughout its lifetime, it’s not entirely true. They're actually letting other plants and living creatures as far as miles away know of what's happening around by releasing specific chemicals, by transmitting electric signals, by releasing specific vibrations, by using their roots etc. The plants have actually gone as far as developing a “plant internet” that lets them communicate with each other. But the most noticeable tool of communication of plants is their movement. And we actually tend to use it for our own entertainment! Think of mimosa and you'll understand what we're talking about.

A lot of people don't consider plants to be the most exciting thing in the world, as they don't move, talk or interact with you. But hey, there is one that does those things. If you followed us on Instagram in early spring, you might already know that we're talking about nothing other than the Mimosa Pudica.

Basil is by far the most popular herb being grown in the Smart Herb Garden. And for a reason! It's looks sexy, it smells delicious and it's incredibly versatile. The heck, you can even make beer out of it! And as all good things, we want it to last longer, produce more and keep looking handsome. The key is in pruning. How to prune basil? We're glad you asked.

Over the years, we have conducted hundreds and hundreds of experiments here in the Click & Grow lab, testing everything from different plants to different fertilisers. Heck, we've even played music to the plants. And all that only to find the most efficient, most effortless and most "natural" urban gardening solutions. So quite naturally, the question about gardening techniques came up in the conversation amongst our team members. Which is a more superior - hydroponics or Smart Soil?

During the past years, urban farming aka. growing food in urban areas has become a world-wide trend, and it keeps on growing (pun intended). It has become stylish, it is being claimed to be the future of food, and new "smart gardening" brands are popping up faster than ever. But what is it that makes urban farming so irresistible and seemingly superior to traditional farming in the century of urbanization?

From your #clickandgrow Instagram pictures, we've noticed that you're sometimes enthusiastic to let the plants grow wild, huge and free. The dilemma between trying to grow something new and keeping the plant that has been there for you for 3 months growing wild is quite challenging. But hey, you can have it all.

Click & Grow has enabled people to successfully grow edibles, flowers and decoratives without watering, fertilizing, repotting, seeding etc. But we also want to make the geeks and the experimenters happy. The ones that believe that growing anything should be effortless. And here is our answer to those people - the seedless Experimental Plant Capsule. Get any seeds you want from the gardening store, put them in your Experimental Plant Capsule, click it in your Smart Herb Garden and see the magic happen. As easy as that.

On social media and from your emails, we've noticed that you get quite attached to the plants you grow in your Click & Grow. And for a reason! We do understand though that as much as you want to try out new plants, it is sad to see the "old" ones go. So before you send that sexy Smart Herb Garden mini tomato off to a better place, check out this little trick we have in our pocket - plant cloning in water. 

Photo: Golden rice vs white rice. UBC

Before we jump into anything, let's make one thing clear: Click & Grow DOES NOT use genetically modified seeds or organisms in our products. The following is a scientific view on the processes taking place in nature and plant breeding.

We have always been dependent on plants. In big picture, absolutely everything in our lives has more or less been made possible because of them. It also means that we are pretty good at draining this resource. If the population keeps growing at the same speed as now, then by 2050 we'll need 75% more food to survive. With natural resources not being able to pick up with our consumption habits, we have to find new ways to produce food cheaper and more efficiently. By now the best-found solution is to recombine the genetic codes of the plants to create stronger, hardier, better (and cheaper) offsprings. It might sound artificial, but it's actually what often happens in nature, and even the hated/loved GMO methods are inspired by this natural recombination aka traditional breeding methods. Here's how it happens.