About

Happy Baby Plants Since 2011

Where to find us:

Factory and store are located at 1218 4th st, Berkeley CA 94710

Open to the public Fridays 1pm - 6pm, or by appointment 

The Orta Story

Orta Kitchen Garden began as a dream to create tools that promote gardening and connect people to nature. In 2011, founder Anne Fletcher made our first self-watering seed pot as a solution to the problem of sustaining delicate herb seedlings on her kitchen counter. In her design, water is drawn as needed from the pot’s terracotta reservoir. After a year in her garage experimenting and teaching herself ceramics, she refined her dream into the Sixie Seed Pot, a responsibly-made product that is beautiful enough to display. Eager to align her professional life as a product designer with her environmental values, Anne started Orta Kitchen Garden.

Anne and Vitelia making pots

Today, our Berkeley-based crew produces a variety of pots and zero-waste kits. Everything we sell is made to last a lifetime and guaranteed to be plastic and toxin-free. We are proud to be green-to-the-core in all aspects of our business: from responsible manufacturing to eco-packaging.

Orta comes from “kitchen garden” in Italian, to evoke the traditional garden where herbs, produce and flowers are cultivated for family and friends. We hope that our products can be the seeds for your own orta in a way that preserves a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.  

 Drop us a line and say hello.  We love to hear from you!

 

The Orta Promise

Grow Successfully:  Everything we sell works and works well, for a long time.  We don't do gimmicks or make promises we can't keep. We guarantee that you'll love our products, or we take them back!

Grow Beautifully:  Seedlings poking through soil are magical and beautiful.  We've created pots worthy of that moment so you'll keep them close and watch the story unfold.

Grow Responsibly: From promoting all things botanical, to responsible manufacturing and eco packaging, we are green to the core. Here are a few details:

  • Helping you succeed with seedlings keeps those single-use plastic nursery pots out of the landfill and the oceans.  And you can grow more plants for less money.  More plants = a better world, don't you think?
  • We mix our own glazes to ensure they're non-toxic (commercial formulas are secret, so you never know what's in them).
  • We formulate our glazes specially to work in a single-firing process, saving 1/2 the energy of most ceramic production.
  • We mix our own clay to eliminate the barium that's in pre-mixed ceramic slip.
  • All our packaging, including shipping materials, is 100% paper. You'll never receive any plastic from us, ever.

 

We Believe:

Whether it's a windowsill or an acre, your garden should be a place you love, that gives you peace and joy, and connects you to nature every day.  Our tools make gardening less of a chore, more of a pleasure.

Gardening tools and supplies should be good for the earth, good for the life in your garden, and good for you. Everything we make and sell is guaranteed to be plastic-free and toxin-free, and is made to last a lifetime, or to compost completely.

 

 "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." -William Morris