Step away from the expensive overdesigned thing. You can make these out of any leftover milk jugs or soda bottles and then "just add soil and seeds"

http://lifehacker.com/5913914/turn-a-soda-bottle-into-a-worry+free-self+watering-planter

Bonus: If you use a clear bottle, you can see when you need to add water.

Expensive overdesigned thing would look SO much better in my kitchen though....

Yeah I'd rather pay a bit more and have something sitting out I want to look at than some cut up plastic bottles. Tad overpriced maybe. 25 and I'd not think about it.

Love seeing a company from home get featured here!

You can buy a nice-looking self-watering planter in any nursery (even someplace like WalMart) for about half the cost of this. And I think a much bigger problem than water, at least in the wintertime, is getting enough light. You may be able to grow something like lettuce in this, but forget any other vegetables without adding a light to it. I've been able to keep some of my herbs going this winter in a self-watering window box (basil, rosemary, oregano, chives) in my sunniest window, but they aren't growing much at all.

Thank you! We designed and produced this product as we felt that the existing GYO (grow your own) product offerings lacked aesthetic value. As more and more people are choosing to grow their own food and introducing the products required to do so into their homes it would be nice to have something that integrated into the interior design of their homes.

It is designed as a herb planter although we have had success growing leafy greens, kale and swiss chard. As for the cost it is a made in Canada product, and the main material we use is produced in Richmond Virginia, and we also give planters to children's food education programs like www.growingchefs.com which of course has an associated cost.
We feel that local manufacturing is important, particularly when addressing the local, organic food movement. We could make it in China for half the cost and may consider doing this for the sole reason to be able to give more people the ability to grow their own food with a product that fits their design aesthetic . That being said of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Winter growing can be difficult if not impossible in some regions of North America. We have been experiencing this as well. We have had success growing mint, parsley, kale, and chard in the winter but will have to wait for more sun to achieve success with Basil and Cilantro.

Happy Growing and Thank you for your comments.

Hi Paul. Ultimately we would like to offer this product at a price of $19.95 but we will need to go overseas in order to make this possible and eliminate the support we give to children's education programs. The question then somewhat becomes what is the value of North American manufacturing vs overseas manufacturing. Is the additional carbon footprint associated with oversees manufacturing offset by the carbon footprint savings of growing your own food and being able to allow more people to do so by offering a more economically affordable solution (without using cut up bottles). These lifecycle analysis questions add a complexity that is difficult to answer specifically.

Thanks for your comments and we welcome any suggestions you may have.

P.S. One of the reasons we chose the name Patch was due to the fact that we aim to be an organization that is collaborative in nature. Much as a number of patches make a quilt. Our food systems are failing an we would like to help Patch them up. Again the food systems challenges we face are enormously complex and while we don't have the answers we need to start somewhere. We can only get better!

This should be reposted - theyre doing a kickstarter with 3 days left and only about half way to goal. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/letspatch/self-watering-patch-planter-for-herbs-and-greens-0