Italian divers learned how to grow vegetables in underwater greenhouses

Off the northwest coast of Italy, a fascinating experimental project to grow vegetables under water has started. Local divers set up a real garden in the sea, called Nemo’s Garden.

Like the legendary character in a Jules Verne novel, scuba divers build their own infrastructure under multiple layers of water. We are talking about special plastic containers-greenhouses in the form of hemispheres, installed above the seabed. Ground plants are planted in them and their development is observed. It is noted that spherical greenhouses are heated by sunlight. From moist air, fresh condensate forms on the walls, flowing into the ground, in which vegetables, herbs and other ingredients traditional for Mediterranean cuisine are planted. Underwater greenhouses also serve as coral reefs.

The goal is both the cultivation of vegetables familiar to terrestrial agriculture, and those crops, the cultivation of which is difficult due to unfavorable economic conditions, and also due to complex morphological reasons. As project manager Sergio Gamberini assured, such activities can be implemented not only off the coast of the northwestern provinces of Italy. According to him, in the future, this system can become an economical alternative to traditional agriculture in dry summer conditions in coastal regions that are experiencing a shortage of fresh water needed for crop irrigation.