FAQ's
What is hydroponics?
Instead of using soil, plants grow in nutrient-rich water that delivers everything they need directly to their roots.
How do our West Kent Smart Gardens work?
Each hydroponics smart garden is equipped with a built-in pump for nutrient flow that keeps water circulating through the tank. This ensures a constant flow of nutrients and oxygen to your plants.
Seeds are placed in natural, biodegradable sponges, which are suspended above the nutrient solution. As the roots grow, they absorb the water and nutrients they need—no soil required! This is the magic behind our smart herb garden and hydroponic kitchen herb garden setups.
Our super energy-efficient LED grow lights mimic natural sunlight and are fine-tuned for optimal plant growth. These lights run on very low power (less than a standard lightbulb!) and support your plants through every stage of their development.
And best of all, everything is automated—just top off the water when the level runs low, and your West Kent smart garden takes care of the rest. No green thumb required!
Why is hydroponics superior to growing in soil/buying vegetables and herbs?
With hydroponics, you can grow fresh, healthy food all year round—right from your kitchen hydroponic garden, office, or windowsill.
With our smart gardens, you can create an ideal growing environment in your home, meaning plants grow faster and are packed with nutrients. Because you harvest right before eating, there’s no nutritional loss, unlike store-bought produce.
Say goodbye to waste:
NO packaging, NO transport, NO pesticides, 90% LESS water use than traditional gardening
You’ll be growing clean, sustainable food with zero impact on the environment and with very low energy consumption.
Plus, your home will look and smell as fresh as a garden! Hydroponic systems not only produce edible herbs and greens, but they also look and smell amazing.
What is a living plant wall?
Living plant walls are the ideal gardening solution for anyone living in an urban area, or with little floor space. Most gardens need lots of floor space for planters and pots, whereas our living wall systems use up only your WALL space, and require no floor space at all. They work in the same way as a traditional pot/planter with soil, but have been cleverly adapted to a vertical lifestyle. Our planters come with two options - to either just buy the kit from us (and buy the soil and plants yourselves), or buy the plants along with the kit, so you have everything you need to get your living wall up and running.
How do I water and maintain my living plant wall?
Our planters are made from terracotta. Natural, porous and earthy it’s beautiful and great for plant roots. The frames are powder coated steel, strong and resistant to rust.
Both materials provide beautiful contrast to plants and will complement all colour schemes.
Our planters offer ample room for roots and can be watered from above through a grid of watering holes. Little feet on the planters are for added air circulation and a useful finger gap for lifting planters when needed.
Our frames allow for the pods to be lifted in and out. Great when it comes to re-potting, routine maintenance or a simple spring airing.
Delivery information
*Across all of our products, delivery is FREE and is available ONLY in the UK
West Kent Products (Smart Gardens) -
We offer fast, free UK delivery on all orders via Royal Mail 48. All orders are usually delivered within 2-3 days, however, this is not guaranteed. Those of you who live in remoter areas will no doubt be aware that courier deliveries to your location can sometimes take slightly longer than expected. We pride ourselves on our customer service, and will do our upmost to get your purchase to you as soon as feasibly possible. Tracking available.
Horticus Products (Living Plant Walls) -
We offer FREE delivery on all our orders, to the UK only. This is irrespective of whether you choose to add plants to your kits or not.
Delivery is tracked and signed for, sent by DPD. Delivery is estimated within 3-5 days of each order, but can not always be guaranteed within this time. We pride ourselves on our customer service, and will do our upmost to get your purchase to you as soon as feasibly possible. Tracking available.
Return/refund information
West Kent Products (Smart Gardens) -
We accept returns up to 30 days after delivery, providing the item is unused and in its original condition, and we will refund the full order minus the shipping and restocking costs for the return. In the event that your order arrives damaged in any way, please email us as soon as possible (see our contact page) with your order number and a photo of the item’s condition. We address these on a case-by-case basis but will try our best to work towards a satisfactory solution.
We also offer a ONE YEAR WARRANTY on all of our products. If you have any issues at all with your smart gardens, please do get in touch with us.
Horticus Products (Living Plant Walls) -
We replace or offer partial refund for products that are faulty, defective, or if we shipped the wrong order. Please note our terracotta planters are hand made from a natural material and may vary slightly in colour and dimensions, due to the unique nature of the terracotta and its behaviour during a firing process. Please email us (see contact page) with a photograph of the damaged product within 48hrs of receipt to arrange for a refund and return if applicable. If and when your return has been received, it will be checked and if approved, appropriate refund will be arranged. You may need to keep the product and packaging for 28 days. We offer a refund less 5%* for cancellations within 14 days. Goods must be returned in an entirely unused condition, in their original packaging and fit for resale.** We will refund the original order on receipt of the returned goods.
Horticus are not responsible for the returned goods while in transit, and are not responsible for loss or damage. We recommend you use a fully trackable service with adequate insurance. Please pack the goods thoroughly, using new packaging material if necessary, as damage to goods whilst in transit remains the customer's responsibility until received by Horticus.
*We offer a refund less 5% as this is the fee we are charged for payment processing. This does not affect your statutory rights.
**Goods must be returned in a condition fit for re-sale. This means goods were not used, even slightly. If the goods have been used even a little bit, we reserve the right to make only a part refund at our discretion.
***Our potting mats are the only products which are NOT eligible for returns.
I'm having issues with my indoor smart garden, what do I do?
For technical support about our West Kent products, please use our contact page to get in touch and we can direct your issue towards our lovely technicians.
I'm having issues with my living plant wall, what do I do?
For any issues with your Horticus living plant wall, please use our contact page to get in touch and we will direct your concerns towards the most relevant technicians depending on your issue.
I'm having trouble getting through to anyone on your phone line, how should I get in contact?
We are a small, independently run business, and due to this our customer service agents are often very busy on the phone. If no-one is available to answer your call, please leave a voicemail or leave us an email (see the contact page) and we will endeavour to get back to you within the same working day wherever possible.