Gardyn Plant Health and Nutrition Research: Seed to Harvest and Beyond

Nicole Holland

July 13, 2022

Written by Gardyn’s Head of Plant Health and Nutrition & Food Scientist, Lindsay Springer

From our Gardyns to yours

In the heart of Bethesda, Maryland lies an oasis of Gardyns in an unassuming office space. Inside, a wave of floral aromas, the cheery glow of LEDs, and an entire wall of plants soothes your senses…what is this place?

Welcome to The Hyve, Gardyn’s buzzing research and development headquarters. Here, our Plant Health and Nutrition Team conducts experiments, gathers data, and finds plant varieties that are not only unique, but they have also proven to grow beautifully on our indoor hydroponic growing system.

Our goal is to bring you new plants that have exotic flavors and textures, gorgeous blooms and scents, and elite nutritional or medicinal powers. They may also be heirloom plants grown by your great grandmother or novel compact varieties that break the boundaries of what we can grow – we explore them all.

It’s a rigorous journey to launch new plants each month, so we decided to give our Gardyners a ‘’behind the leaf” look at how we deliver the best tasting and most nutritious plants you can grow with confidence on your Gardyn.

Only the best for our Gardyners!

Our Gardyn Portfolio Manager, Nicole Holland, orchestrates our monthly plant releases to ensure our constantly evolving portfolio offers plants for every experience level and taste bud. As an avid gardener, plant scientist, food lover, and mom of 2, Nicole merges creativity with her gardening experience to create Gardyn’s Portfolio vision.

Once Nicole identifies new varieties for testing, the candidate plants enter the validation pipeline, led by Master Gardyner Victoria Mirowski.

As a Master of Urban Agriculture, Victoria manages all of the Hyve’s many thriving Gardyns. There, she uses a 4-phase validation system that includes seed germination, plant growth and health, harvest, and (very importantly) taste.

While the plants you see in our Plant Shop have passed this rigorous vetting, what you don’t see are the droves of varieties that didn’t make the cut. Our list of rejects include tasteless tomatoes, a fruitless squash, and even a mammoth morning glory that swallowed an entire Gardyn! Victoria has seen, and tested, it all.

Monitoring the Gardyn Fleet

Our Plant Scientist and Technical Data Specialist, Clarice Matt, takes the wheel (alongside Kelby) to monitor new plants on Gardyners’ devices after we release them. As a former Kelby team member and plant scientist, Clarice leverages Gardyn’s artificial intelligence and data systems to complete the feedback loop on new plants’ success and gain insight on further variety improvements or opportunities.

“Our goal is to bring you new plants that have exotic flavors and textures, gorgeous blooms and scents, and elite nutritional or medicinal powers.”

Innovation and sustainability

The Plant Health and Nutrition Team’s founding member, Lindsay Springer, ties the team together. Lindsay leverages her Ph.D in Food Science, product innovation expertise, and over a decade of growing experience to drive Gardyn’s new plant-based product development, technological advancements, and nutrition initiatives. With so many new and exciting ideas to work on, Lindsay ensures her team’s efforts continue to elevate Gardyn’s role in sustainability and human health.

Each new Gardyn Portfolio plant has a robust story behind it and an exciting future of possibility on your Gardyn. Our Plant Health and Nutrition Team can’t wait to share the journey with you!

Do you have any unique and interesting varieties growing in your Gardyn that you would love to see offered in a yCube?

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