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'Cause dirt just isn't good enough anymore

Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
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Candace Lombardi

It always starts with the best of intentions: an attempt to bring the nature of New Jersey into my city apartment or office. It usually ends with dried-out seedlings or mold.

The AeroGarden from AeroGrow is a computerized garden with a lamp that will allow the most negligent gardener to successfully grow plants. You fill the bottom with water, add the little seeded cones and nutrient tablets, and plug the AeroGarden into any regular outlet. That's it. This "smart" appliance self-regulates the amount of light, water and nutrients it allows the plants to receive. A warning light comes on when water is low or when you need to add more nutrient tablets. The height of the lamp can be adjusted as plants grow taller.

The device is based on the aeroponics technology developed by NASA for growing food in space without soil. The AeroGarden can go it alone for up to two weeks, according to the company, and plants grow five times faster than they would in soil. The AeroGarden, which comes with one seed kit, sells for $150 on Amazon.com. The gadget is available in black or white. Additional seed sets are $20 and include petunias, French herbs, Japanese herbs, chili peppers or cherry tomatoes.

This item originally appeared on CNET's new gadgets blog, Crave, which covers the hottest and coolest gizmos around. Other recent postings include SL's flying Segways and the human router.