How Urban Leaf Began

Welcome! Here's the Story of How Urban Leaf Began

Hi, my name is Nate, and I'm one of the co-founders of Urban Leaf.

In 2013, I moved to NYC for a job in finance. It's the biggest city I've ever lived in, having spent most of my life in what many would call 'the suburbs'.

Food and cooking have been lifelong passions of mine. My first career aspiration was to become a chef, but my mom talked me out of it by telling me I'd have to wake up at 5 am every day. As a kid, I loved sleeping in, so I decided against it.

I also have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my dad at the local plant nursery. We’d buy trays of herb and flower seedlings and spend the weekend planting them in the backyard. I was in charge of watering and caring for them, and although I didn't realize it then, that's where my love for gardening began.

Fast forward to 2015, and I’m living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Chelsea, NYC. The only outdoor space I could access was by climbing onto the roof of my building. I missed tending a garden and the satisfaction it brought, especially the joy of serving something homegrown to friends at dinner.

As an engineer at heart, I started experimenting. I scoured the internet for creative ways to grow food in a small apartment and learned about hydroponics, grow lights, and various innovative products. The photos above, taken in 2016, show some of the early experiments we conducted to create a gardening solution suitable for NYC apartments.

When Nate Met Rob

It was around this time that I met Rob, who grew up on a wood farm in Massachusetts. We met during a presentation he was giving about his research on incorporating plants into urban environments. Rob was a post-doc at the Earth Institute at Columbia University then. I managed to convince him that leaving academia to start a company would be far more exciting. And so, Urban Leaf was born!

We spent years testing various grow-at-home products, probably like you might be doing now. What we realized was that none of them truly satisfied our desire to feel like real gardeners. Sure, they could grow basil, but just like a Nespresso machine won't teach you to be a barista, these plug-and-play gardening kits won't make you a gardener.

Building What We Wanted

Unable to find a brand that made us feel the same pride I felt when my dad put me in charge of the backyard herbs, we decided to create it ourselves. We believed others like us, who wanted to garden in their apartments, would appreciate a more engaging and meaningful experience. Sharing this with newcomers to gardening would help make life in a one-bedroom apartment more enjoyable.

Over the past five years, Rob and I have focused on developing the best ways to create meaningful gardening experiences for people in small spaces. We launched our first product through a Kickstarter campaign in 2017, and we’ve been growing steadily ever since.

We pride ourselves on offering a safe and supportive space for gardeners of all experience levels. That’s why we provide the best refund and replacement policy in the gardening industry—Any Time, For Any Reason.

Gardening offers numerous health benefits and growing your own food is a fantastic way to contribute to a more sustainable, resilient, and transparent food system.

Thank you for reading our story. We look forward to continuing this journey with you!

Until next time, Nate (Co-Founder & CEO)