--- title: "Divers Growing Veggies in Underwater Greenhouses" description: "Welcome to \"Nemo's Garden,\" a beautiful underwater garden off of Italy's Northwestern coast. The underwater greenhouses are called \"biospheres.\"" date: "2022-11-10" modified: "2022-11-10" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/divers-growing-veggies-in-underwater-greenhouses" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "agriculture" - "garden" - "ocean" - "the digest" --- # Divers Growing Veggies in Underwater Greenhouses ![Welcome to "Nemo's Garden," a beautiful underwater garden off of Italy's Northwestern coast. The underwater greenhouses are called "biospheres."]() *\Image: Nemo's Garden\* ## Nemo's Garden Welcome to "Nemo's Garden," a surreal — and beautiful — underwater garden off of Italy's Northwestern coast. There, [*National Geographic* reports](), terrestrial plants are grown in submerged plastic greenhouses dubbed "biospheres," which can be seen glowing from the surface. And we gotta say: the pictures of these plastic, herb-filled oddities are absolutely stunning. https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/1590600142859960321 ## Water Cycle Sergio Gamberini, the man behind this almost fantastical project, isn't just out to create something that looks beautiful. He's hoping that his plastic orbs, which rest between 15 and 36 feet below the ocean's surface and hold about 528 gallons of air, will provide a water-conserving, overall sustainable alternative to on-land agricultural operations, particularly helping dry coastal nations grow more food without having to desalinate more water — a costly and resource-intensive process. The plants require just a small bit of starter water, but from there, they're self-sustaining. Sunlight heats the submerged spheres, which contain humid air that naturally condenses into freshwater on the walls and drips back into the soil. "Since the underwater farm needs an external source of water only for the start-up of plants growing," reads the [company's site](), "our system could be useful for those locations far from the bodies of water available." ## Deep Food Nemo's Garden is still in its earlier phases, but results have been promising. One [2020 study]() showed that the organization's underwater-grown basil actually had more chlorophyll and antioxidants than land-reared basil — a fascinating finding, considering that the water pressure actually forces the Nemo plants to grow a bit differently than they might on the surface. Excitingly, marine life is reportedly drawn to the glowing orbs as well; according to *NatGeo,* the structures act like an artificial coral reef for nearby species. Whether Nemo's Garden will one day be coming to a coastline near you remains to be seen. In the meantime, though, we might agree with *NatGeo* photographer Luca Locatelli, who says he's excited to see someone take a well-intentioned leap — or perhaps a dive — of faith. "We need someone who thinks about crazy things — not only ordinary inventions — that are coming out of a real passion," Locatelli told the magazine. "It might be something, it might not, \[but\] I like the fact that someone is so brave to invest money on such a thing." **READ MORE:** *[Look inside Nemo's Garden, a surreal underwater farm]()* \[*National Geographic*\] **More on alternative gardening:** *[Nasa Let Astronauts Feast on Space-grown Vegetables]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()