Our Roots


Ryan Newsom crying over a dead garden

Terrible Tragedy

Centered in Arizona, our team has always enjoyed weather in the winter. We are gardeners, and our weather throughout the year is proven healthy for a large majority of plant species. The heat that arrives in the subsequent summers in Arizona, though, is when we have to prepare for a greater water bill, shading structures, and mostly dead vegetation and plants. As unfortunately seen on the right, our climate took the life of our own team-member's garden last summer, when the temperature reached 120°F and wilted all the leaves.


Rebuilding Smarter

While our own gardens have already been decimated by the heat of our Arizona summers, we wanted to find a solution so that homeowners, their gardens, and our future gardens could thrive. It's why we became a team, and it's why we developed the Garden Guard: universal gardening—no matter what your climate has in mind.

Sohani Sandhu digging in dirt outside



Meet the Team

Designers Developers Gardeners

Sohani Sandman

Chief Executive Officer

David Krieger

Executive Vice PresidentGeneral Tech Specialist/Web Developer

Morgan Applegate

Finance Division

Yaniv Briker

Electrical Engineering Specialist

Nada Osman

Secretary/OrganizerOutreach Division

Niharika Abbaraju

Outreach Division

Defne Aydin

Outreach Division

Ryan Newsom

Finance Division

Brandon Pham

Leading Researcher

Hallie Melonson

Sustainability Coordinator

In Collaboration With

Rachna Nath

Mentor and Organizer

Athmanathan

Technical Advisor

Dr. Raj Rajagopalan

Botanical Advisor