Sleek design, sturdy support, modular, easy and clean to use or water: all terms that apply to a new product from Urbio indoor gardeners will love, but what really caught my eye was the use of rare earth metal you would only expect to come across in the technical specs of the latest 2 gigabyte hard drive or NASA’s newest Mars rover: neodymium.
Who’d have thunk it! Gardening with neodymium.
Urbio Now Available on Amazon
Where do I find pumice for my Urbio planters? Try Black Gold 12-Quart Pumice Soil
Well, in a stroke of genius, designers Beau Oyler and Jared Aller, that’s who. The two came up with a design and obtained financing for product development and tooling through Kickstarter.com, a platform for crowd sourced funding for artistic and innovative projects.
Mounting shelves, planters , and wire hangers have all been used for ages, but Urbio employs neodymium, alloys of which number among the strongest magnets known, to attach containers of various sizes and shapes to powder-coated modular steel plates mounted via brackets to the wall. Neodymium is embedded into the back section of each container in a form that mates to special indentations molded into the steel plates. In the video below, Beau demonstrates the Urbio system:
The versatility of the Urbio design allow allows you to group two or three individual containers or vessels together in a desktop ensemble that doesn’t require any back plate or bracing. When the need to watering arises, you don’t need to bring the water to the plants, you simply pluck the whole container off the wall and bring it over to the sink, eliminating the spills and over-watering that commonly occur while trying to water indoor pots and containers, especially those higher up on a wall.
It’s Easy: Pebbles – Potting Soil – Plant
Planting is simple, place a layer of pumice or horticultural clay pebbles(available at any hydroponics store) in the bottom to a depth of 1″ to 2″, depending on the container, then add your favorite potting soil, and insert you plant. The pumice or clay pebble layer lessens the incidence of root rot by providing a small drainage basin and reservoir.
Not Just for Living Wall Plants, Mounts to any Ferrous Surface
The Urbio system is not restricted to plants, you can put the containers to just about any use. The small cylindrical container is great for pencils and crayons, the wide narrow ones hold papers, notebooks, magazines, or even your favorite snacks. You can mix and match the containers, rearrange the whole thing at will, or combine plants with workspace items conveniently mounted next to your desk. You can also attach the Urbio vessels to any ferrous(iron or steel) surface, such as the side of a refrigerator, or a metal post. (Please note, stainless steel is non-magnetic, and can’t be used to hold these)
Envirocycle Composter
