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.

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)

freshening her up

i tipped out the old nutrient today, its certainly not wasted as you'll see...the flowers in our window box love me for it.
as i've mentioned before, it's important every now and then to completely put a fresh batch of nutrient solution in the power plant. after all, over time, even with top ups the pH value will change and the nutrient concentration gets out of balance as the roots grow and shed old matter.

on another note
the power plant basil got plucked again yesterday, as we put basil all over a salad...very tasty, i'm really getting to like the liquorice taste of the siam thai basil.
and all this plucking is encouraging the growth of newer fresh leaves, shes really starting to grow nicely now, not too leggy, nice and bushy, i'll have to try and let her grow a bit more to show you what i mean

the power plants new look

so the basil has started to get some real attention from my family, i'm looking like a real gardening guru...'oh, and here's my latest crop of basil...all green and leafy!'...it's very funny, i can now discuss the merits of sweet basil to that of thai basil.

this morning my daughter asked if she could put a sticker on the power plant..of course you can...and bam- not 5 minutes later the product is now covered in stickers!!!...i guess she feels some ownership too..

a small floaty ball

just thought i'd write about something i noticed with my power plant...and i must say it's specific to the one i'm using...when i filled her up with nutrient, i noticed the floaty ball used for the gauge wasn't moving...so i tapped the power plant with a spoon i had nearby...and voila the ball floated up!...i think the ball is so light that there must have been a little 'stiction' when i emptied the container, before i transported her home yesterday.

on that note, i also noticed this morning that she sounded a little noisier than her normal waterfall serenity ...so again, with the spoon, i tapped the side and voila... again she's running whisper quietly again.

also to note- again no timer is used on my power plant.