PlantMe: NZ start-up encourages Kiwis to grow their own vegetables

Fliss Roberts, founder of PlantMe with seed envelopes. Photo / Supplied

A new service lets Kiwis sign up to have seeds delivered to their homes so they can grow their own fruit and vegetables.

PlantMe.io also includes a planting diary and an online marketplace to encourage collaboration and help Kiwis take small steps in their own backyard to reverse climate change.

"The idea is to encourage more people to get growing at home as meaningful climate action while also improving nutrition, health and wellness and your bank balance," PlantMe founder and chief executive Fliss Roberts said.

"We're building crypto rewards that will be a world-first in rewarding individuals for their climate action and biodiversity restoration, and now we are inviting Kiwis to sign up to the platform and be citizen scientists to help us prove what's possible and generate the data."

Wellington-based Roberts first had the idea for PlantMe at the end of 2018 to help individuals, families and the wider community start localising food and to make a collective impact on biodiversity and emissions.

With an MBA in Sustainability, Roberts got to work on building the PlantMe.io app and was able to launch in 2019, with the help of volunteer software developers.

A PlantMe subscription box. Photo / Supplied

Digital growing guides and seed choices were based on subscribers' location to ensure optimal growth, so it was easy to "get growing now," Roberts said.

There was also a land-share feature, which was popular for those who wanted to share or rent extra space with gardeners who might not have their own plot, she said.

PlantMe recently added new features, showing each subscriber's climate impact and dollar savings when they logged plants, progress and recorded harvests with pictures.

Having access to affordable, fresh nutrition was important, both for climate change and during the pandemic, Roberts said.

"One in five New Zealanders often don't know where their next meal will come from, but it doesn't need to be that way. We have the ability to feed ourselves and our whānau with minimal effort.

"We want to inspire more people across Aotearoa, and the world, to get growing - because once you taste the difference and realise how easy and fun it is, you'll never look back."