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.

at last...i planted the mint

here are a few images of the basil pistou growing happily and healthily in my kitchen. she has continually sprouted new leaves and unlike the other basil i've grown, she doesn't seem to need paring back....she just grows up a little and sprouts loads of new leaves...she really is a bushy plant.

you'll also see alongside the power plant- my mint. i planted this morning, only took a few minutes, so keep checking back, as i'll be updating the site regularly.

for those of you 'in the know' prepara just upgraded the nutrient for the power plant series..this new stuff is awesome...they sell it at their site...enough for a couple of years growing.
(if your power plant came with the very early yellow nutrient you'll now find the new green stuff to be like steroids for your plants!!...they love it....and its natural and the stuff has won awards from the hydroponic gardening industry - FYI all the recent shipments of powerplant had already been upgraded to the new stuff...it's just the yellow nutrient that is the old stuff)

how does your garden grow?

recently i've heard a few people mention the need for a timer with the power plant, however, this was based upon old instructions included with the packaging.
the laboratory technicians at prepara discovered the power plant mini actually runs better when left on full time...no need for the timer!


and btw, running it full time should be a quiet and tranquil experience-sounding very much like a faraway trickling stream.

a New plant to try!
i thought i'd include a video here of a very interesting plant we grew....it's incredible and so much fun!!!!
it's called a 'sensitive' plant (mimosa pudica) and you can see why...it didn't take long to grow, possibly 5 weeks to this point.
we just planted the seeds and plugged the power plant mini in and left her to grow
you can see a more formal description here on Wikipedia

BASIL...at last it's basil time

i gave the power plant mini a thorough wash and cleaned out all the nooks and crannies.
a very, very light bleach mix ensures the maximum cleanliness with plenty of rinsing.
i ran the the bleachy mix through the nozzles, pump and sprayers too.

once she was clean, i replaced the sponge and my daughter and i planted our two types of basil seeds...we were both excited to plant again.

you'll see from the photos we;
1. pre-moistened the sponge (i poured my remaining nutrient along the sponge top)
2. we poured out the two types of Basil seeds and placed them into the slit of the sponge
3. refilled my one gallon container with water and a teaspoon of new nutrient and filled the power plant mini unit
4. plugged her in and placed her out of the direct sunlight (just for today)

i'll take some shots tomorrow to see how they're doing...i can already taste the basil!

i'll also get the seed details too.