One shelf, three herbs, zero dead basil
One shelf, three herbs, zero dead basil
A single Budapest apartment shelf grows basil, mint, and Vietnamese basil under LED light — monitored by ESP32-C6 Zigbee nodes and kept alive by automation that runs on a Raspberry Pi on the same shelf. Here is how the indoor herbs setup is put together.
Cheap sensors, smart software
Each pot has an ESP32-C6 garden node reporting temperature, humidity, and soil moisture over Zigbee 3.0. These are inexpensive DIY sensors — and that is fine, because the hub's ML calibration corrects their drift so they read like lab-grade instruments. Cheap sensors, smart software: our founding principle.
The light schedule is a recipe
The LED grow light is on a Zigbee smart plug. The basil recipe runs a 16-hour photoperiod; the automation switches the plug on and off on schedule and logs every transition. Swap in a different recipe and the same shelf grows something else entirely — the hardware never changes.
Watering reminders that actually help
When a soil-moisture probe crosses into the dry band, the app nudges you: a gentle "your basil wants water" reminder, not a firehose of alerts. For growers who want it fully hands-off, the same trigger can open a small pump instead.
Why it stays running
The shelf's automation lives on the local hub. Close the app, lose your Wi-Fi, travel for a week — the lights still cycle and the readings still log. When you are away, optional cloud push keeps you informed without ever taking control away from the hub.