FOR MANY living in towns and cities, growing flowers, fruits or vegetables is out of the question. But a team of inventors from San Francisco has unveiled a device that makes it possible, via an indoor greenhouse that can be controlled by a smartphone.

By connecting their phone to the greenhouse, people will be able to grow fruit and vegetables in their homes without needing access to a garden. Niwa is the brainchild of San Francisco pair Javier Morillias, 32, and Agnieszka Nazaruk, 27.

The indoor gadget uses a built-in miniature computer that detects when plants need water and the ideal temperature for their growth. The glass-sided device uses special sensors to pick up these readings, which then automatically activate different parts of the machine.

And the device warms up, cools down, turns on a light or waters the plants autonomously without input from the user. The contraption, called Niwa, can be used to grow flowers, fruits, vegetables or herbs. It will come in three sizes and is delivered in an easy-to-assemble kit.

Once a user has planted their desired seeds they simply choose which crop it is from a list on the Niwa smartphone app. The machine then adjusts the settings to match the requirements for that specific plant.

Mr Morillias said: 'I kept seeing trucks filled with different vegetables ready to be delivered to various countries and it made no sense to me.

'I decided to start using technology to make the whole process simple and to enable everyone to grow their own food wherever they are.'

'Niwa is based in hydroponic technology, which is a soil-less way to grow plants, where the plant takes nutrients directly from the water,' he said.

'I started wondering what happened, why the production had gone that far from the consumer.

'The answer I found was because we just can't grow them ourselves because of the lack of time, space, conditions or skills.

Upon release in January 2015 it is expected a mini version will cost around £176 ($299).