last hurrah

i grew out the basil 3 times, using the last batch for my store bought 'freezer' pizza.
the fresh basil 'kicked it up a notch'

now the power plant is resting, as i'll be off traveling again next week.

when i get back i want to see what herb of the moment is....although i might try arugula which is a tasty compliment to any sandwich...especially if toasted.

on another note, i used prepara's latest 'flavor' mister on the pizza, as i'm trying to keep the fat off my food and hopefully off my body! (not a good place to start..a pizza!...but none the less it was a valiant start).
the mister is currently exclusive to sur la table... it has a filter for a blockage free spray, its fully dishwasher safe, while being sterilizable...(which is great for making your own flavored infusions)...and best yet it's awesome looking!
i gave one to my sister and had her take one for my mom!



oh, and check out the grow lamp...used in this case to keep the orchids happy!

pizza time...

Having finished with my travel season, i'm now back and taking back the powerplant from my daughter and her experiments!

i decided it was time to start making pizza again and for that i need the 'special ingredient' FRESH home grown BASIL!

i have sewn two types, one a lime basil and the other, a more basic variety, Genovese basil

I cleaned out my mini by rinsing with a very tiny amount of bleach mixed with water and ran the device so all the pipes and pump were cleaned

i then added a new sponge and the seeds, these were planted March 14th.
you can see how well the basil sprouted. I haven't touched the nutrient mix to refill, all i've done up until today was turn my lamp on at breakfast and off at dinner time.

today i trimmed out / thinned the plants to keep only the biggest strongest looking basil plants.
the smell of the cut basil was refreshing.

i'll be keeping the site upto date so you can enjoy watching my basil grow.

long time no blog

while away our flower experiment took on a life of its own. as you can see, the plant went wild...however, Sophie again forgot to turn the light on everyday, which probably sent the plant into a confused state.
But, it really took off.
i'll persuade her to start growing some basil, which is my favorite herb and extremely useful to boot.

hopefully you'll all get a chance to grow some herbs in the powerplants, they are edifying, rewarding and easy!

next week i'll upload some great shots of the power grow lamp 'nurturing' some household plants, very cool and very useful during these cold winter months.

lighting and such

I've been trying to get Sophie to switch her lamp on and off everyday, but its been very sporadic, up until last week, when her brain clicked and now she is super consistent!...and the plants are happy she did!...you'll see there's been quite a bit of growth.

We followed the instructions on the seed pack and plucked the weaker looking plants out. I thought she'd be unhappy at removing 'her' plants, but surprisingly she loved to pull them out...
Since the instructions say that it takes a few months for the flowers to grow i'm being very patient...certainly -for me anyway- not as rewarding as growing basil and other herbs.

brrrr...it's cold outside!

While i was away, my daughter got it into her head that it was time mommy had more flowers around the house...and she wanted mom to have tulips!...well, it's 14 degrees F outside, with ice on the ground...so after explaining the cold weather in January was bad for bulbs- she took it on herself to plant some petunias instead, in 'her' powerplant mini. She instructed mom on what to do...and here they are 4 days later!!!..they like my new prepara grow lamp and their green nutrient (more on this later).

Every morning she pulls over a bar stool and climbs up, clicks on the grow lamp and checks them out, normally followed by ooos and ahhhs, as they really have shot up. I'll be sure to keep the blog up to date.
I've been thinking these power plant products would be great for schools, they are just so remarkably engaging and fun.

Here's some nutrient update i mentioned above;
While developing new products Prepara has been continually upgrading their methodolgy and specifications of the products. The first thing they learnt was that you cant trust to any old nutrient for growing. So, if you have green nutrient..then you have the latest and VERY best available in the world....1 teaspoon per gallon of plain old water! voila!

However, if you have some yellow or aqua color nutrient, then you have the 'old' stuff (with different mixing instructions)...this will work, but be sure to 'upgrade' your machine to the new stuff...you WILL NOT regret it...it's amazing!..you'll get the replacement, currently from preparas web site, where they will sell you enough -at a great price-for many, many grow cycles.

While at the site download the growing instruction PDF...this was simplified and you will see the use of the 'timer' has been written out...this is now considered an option for those of you that want to save electricity, however the power plants can be left running 24/7 with no adverse effects whatsoever. plus- they really only use a tiny amount of power, so...its up to you. I dont use a timer and my plants grow splendidly.

getting a bargain

while i admit, i have been very busy at work lately, and my kitchen has been under some construction, i should share with you a great holiday item that we have been developing; its called the power plant pro and it's our 'new kid' on the block.

it's a completely 'open' system, whereby you can plant any type of seed into the individual pods on the top surface of the power plant (there are 6 pods). Burpee currently has a great site for ordering seeds at this time of year, (prepara also offer a gourmet herb seed collection). i'd recommend keeping the plant under 2 feet tall!...otherwise they'll do what my chilli and lettuce did and crowd out the others.

how does it work?
fill it with the supplied super nutrient (enough nutrient for a lot of fun..possibly a year or more of growing), plug it in and off it goes!..the really cool part is that the patented top grow surface rotates, very slowly-once every twenty minutes...this is hardly noticeable at first, but is so cool when your plants start to grow, it's very kinetic...plus it serves a very real purpose of allowing sunlight to hit all the pods without the need for a lamp, if you have a really sunny spot.
however you can fit the lamp easily under the base...and boy, it looks fantastic...smaller footprint, neater and more stylish than any other on the market.

check out the photo...shown with it is the herb savor, proven (lab tested) to keep your herbs fresh for over 3 weeks..why waste them!

chili on the way!

as you know i've been running all sorts of plants through my power plants, both the mini and the pro.
one of my earlier tests was cited here with mixed leaf salad and a chili plant.
well, here is the result so far...very promising, there's actually a couple of flowers starting and i believe that means there'll be a chili or two soon!