I met Milena on a chilly fall day in October, but I had been following her business for over half a year. We have a lot of things in common – from our belief that cities should be greener to our near-obsession with aromatic herbs. But perhaps above all is our determination to keep gardening in the tiniest of urban spaces.
Milena’s company, The Urban Permaculture, sells grow kits geared toward people like me. People who live in a city, who have a very small space to grow things and who are stubborn enough to believe that growing (some of) your own food is possible even without the luxury of a kitchen garden in the countryside.
Milena took what started as a pandemic pastime and turned it into a bonafide business with customers from all over Europe. The company is based in Berlin, but the online shop is available in five languages! All the while keeping true to her values – growing organically, sourcing locally and upcycling materials as much as possible.
The Urban Permaculture is perfect for newbies because it provides everything you need to start growing food right away: seeds, growing substrate, recycled pots and pot holders and a grow bag made out of upcycled billboards or truck tarpaulins.
All you have to do is add water. And if you want to avoid plastic altogether, you can choose the Pbox, a semi-hydroponic setup made out of cork. You can choose to grow your own herbs (basil, oregano, chives, coriander, mint and parsley) or leafy greens (marvel of 4 seasons lettuce, red and green romaine lettuce, arugula, spinach, rainbow Swiss chard. You can also mix and match.
I caught up with Milena to ask her a few questions about her urban gardening projects and her experience of starting a plant-centered business.
Hi, Milena. Can you tell us a bit about how you started The Urban Permaculture?
I’m originally from Barcelona, where we used to have a garden and grew things. During the first wave of the pandemic, I was living in France with my family. The restrictions were very strict, and we could only go out for one hour a day and couldn’t go too far from home. So during that time, we wanted to start cultivating things again.
But we were living in a city and the only outdoor space was our balcony. It didn’t have as much potential as a garden, but it did have some potential. Garden centers were closed due to lockdown, so we couldn’t just go buy potting soil.
We were forced to use what we already had, so we came up with a semi-hydroponic system that used cut plastic bottles and discarded fruit crates from the local farmers’ market.
Was this your first time growing this way?
Yes, it was an experiment. We started doing aromatics and leafy greens such as arugula for salad. We also experimented with some root vegetables, so we grew some mini carrots and mini radishes. Mainly it was everything that you eat the leaves of.
We started sharing what we were doing with our friends. Everyone was in lockdown, so a lot of people were eager to try growing their own food too. They were enjoying growing food in a city which was something people don’t really think about often. From there we just created an Instagram account to show others how to do it too.
(Have a look at Milena’s original multilingual Instagram account, Permacultura de balco.)
How large was your balcony?
It was 4 square meters (about 43 square feet). We were using small fruit crates from the farmers’ market.
We could fit around 9-12 bottles in one crate and then turn it into a small mobile garden. We could move it from the sun to the shade for some parts of the day. Being mobile was a good idea, because we could also move it indoors in the winter.
A lot of people started growing during lockdown, but you turned it into a business. That was the most impressive part to me. How did you manage that?
I was studying business and marketing at the time, so it tied into my studies really well. Our Instagram account was growing quickly, so I knew that all these people wanted to grow their own food at home too.
Let’s find a way to offer this semi-hydroponic system to people who want to grow in small spaces. That’s when I started developing kits that incorporated the same system – the seed, the soil, basically everything you need.
The idea was originally born in Strasbourg, France, but I moved it to Berlin – the best place I could have developed it. I officially founded the company in January 2021 when I moved to Berlin for my Masters, but I spent a whole year developing the product.
I started with several types and sizes of kits, regular kits as well as kits for children and for students. Always keeping it mobile and fit to small spaces.
What edible kits are you selling now?
We have a lot of aromatic herbs – parsley, coriander, different kinds of basil, leafy greens, chard, arugula, roots that you can grow for their leaves. We started with these things because we know they are going to work well in cities, in small apartments.
We don’t want to promise people fruit such as tomatoes and aubergines, because these are more energy intensive – they need nutrients and a lot of light. So we like to set our customers up for success.
We plan to introduce more aromatic herbs, but we always test them out first to see what works in this environment.
We call it semi-hydroponic because we still use a little substrate. That contains nutrients and we usually don’t need to add extra nutrients to the water.
In Berlin, I don’t have a balcony, I just grow everything on my windowsill.
We work with a school in Munich, Germany. They grow aromatic herbs and lettuce. The kids are excited to eat salads, for a change, because they want to eat the lettuce that they grew themselves.
You sell online, but do you sell in physical stores too?
At its core, it’s an online business. But for visibility purposes, it’s a good idea to have your product in physical stores too. We sell in small concept stores, not large chains, in France, Germany and Spain.
(Have a look at The Urban Permaculture’s online store.)
You place a big emphasis on the sustainability of your products. How do you source things?
It was very clear to me, right from the beginning, that I didn’t want to source from China or from very far away. So I always try to source as locally as possible, from Germany, France and Spain. We had good contacts that provided us with high-quality growing medium and high-quality seeds. Everything is organic.
We always do tests to make sure our seeds grow properly.
I also spend a lot of time and energy researching and contacting suppliers. For example, the supplier who makes our grow bags (from upcycled billboards and truck tarpaulins) is from Marseille. After I found him online, I visited his business on location and saw that he makes everything by hand. We share the same values, so the business relationship comes easy.
I think it’s really important to trust who you’re working with and to make sure they align with your values and your expectations.
What does a workday look like for you?
After I finished my Masters in International Management and Marketing, I started working full time on the business. I’m traveling around (always by train, I never take the plane), so I work a lot on the train.
In Berlin, I work from my home office. I’ve also spent a lot of time preparing our next launch, which is a new product. We now use upcycled materials, but I wanted to offer something for our customers who don’t want to buy plastic.
After two years of development, now we’re also offering a cork option for our pots and trays. We call it the Pbox, and it’s a 100% natural, biodegradable and waterproof cork box made of European cork.
Were there any challenges that you faced when you started this business?
Finding the right people to work with. I encountered some people that weren’t who I expected, so I quickly ended the relationship. We’ve also faced a lot of delays because of Covid-19. It’s always disappointing, but in the end, you just have to deal with it.
Do you have any advice for people who would like to start a plant business?
The first thing I would advise them is to work with the right people. Surround yourself with the right people.
Then talk to your future customers and try to understand what they want. Because sometimes we think that what we want is what our customers will want, but that’s not always true. If you’re stubborn and you end up doing what you want, you may discover too late that you should have listened to your customers first.
Finally, don’t be afraid to prototype and ask for feedback. I’m always changing and updating our products based on customer feedback.
Thank you so much for your time, Milena!
All photos via The Urban Permaculture.
You can also follow The Urban Permaculture on Instagram
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