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!

a new batch of basil

i've been travelling a lot lately again!..sorry for the tardiness.

as we move into the holidays i thought i'd replant in preparas new power plant pro.
of course my dream is to have freshly grown basil all the time to hand, and in this dark, chilly, wet november climate the indoor power plant really delivers...if you're also stuck in a dark spot- don't forget to get the grow lamp too! (my current hot tip is to buy from brookstone.com ..who carry the lamp for an amazing price- that won't be repeated after that batch sells through!...and the lamp is made to fit both the pro and the mini, also can be used for propagating your other seeds come springtime)

i loaded the power plant pro with sweet italian basil from burpee, you can see the sprouts are doing well and i expect to start pinching them back early next week.
the seeds only cost me a couple of bucks and there's hundreds!!!...no expensive system needed...i'm sure the one pack will keep me in basil for a couple of years!

hope everyone, even remotely interested in growing, gets a chance to try one of these power plants- whether its the mini or the pro....even absolute novices, which btw my daughter is 4-and definitely a novice gardener- i read her the instructions, she followed along...she is very excited to plant and see the seeds grow...and she cant believe she can eat the produce...it's very rewarding.

i'll post more images as they sprout upwards

the mini is available online-prepara.com and at target.com, cooking.com, amazon.com, bedbathandbeyond.com
the pro is just being rolled out and so far just at brookstone.com until next month

uncontrollable sprouts!

i've got to eat them all now!

here's an update to the seed types i promised earlier;
the sprouts were part of a 5 part salad mix containing organic;
alfalfa, radish, mung bean, lentil and broccoli...truly a high fiber salad!

here's another picture, as you can see they've begun to aggressively attack my power plant pro!

experimenting further with sprouts etc.

i received an interesting pack of mixed sprouts and couldn't wait to try it...i planted them on wednesday last week and within a very short time they were flying out of the power plant mini.

sprouts are so good for you, healthy and tasty..how cool.
i scattered the seeds on top of a moistened sponge. i then covered the seeds...and really they were just sitting on top of the sponge, all shapes and sizes. i left them in the dark for 2 days and then lifted up the cover. my next step was to pour some more water over them, just enough to keep the sponge moist, i did it delicately because i didn't want to wash the 'loose' seeds away.

then they went for it!...as you can see very healthy, i should have cropped them by now, but wanted to see how tall they'd get...i tasted a few and although they look essentially the same..long and lanky, they all tasted exceptionally different.
i'll post the mix, but i'm sure one was a very strong spiciness...it took me a while to get over it!

on another note the power plant pro on test- is growing crazily well...the mixed salad took over in a fight with the chili plant..nice

btw...check out the first retailer to carry the power plant pro and the power grow lamp...it's Brookstone..the lamp is an absolute steal at the moment..it's awesome for all types of plants and great for propagating, it fits snugly with both the pro and the mini...the price of the lamp will never be that low again! take my word, it's a great combo, lamp and pro...you just need the seed and the imagination!

working hard on new product

hello, it's been a while!
the test mint has been growing slowly but surely...however i took receipt of the new power plant pro and lamp combination...wow!
i planted a whole host of different seeds from Burpee and they took off!...i soon realised that my enthusiasm for growing new and interesting plants was tempered by the differing growth rates of the plants. therefore i have huge mesculin salad and chili peppers next to tiny oregano..the others all exhibited a darwinian need to occupy the light...something to be mindful of when growing my next batch.
the mesculin grew crazily fast, i'll post the pics soon.

keep an eye on my blog and i'll posting some of the wonderful images.

ooops and the end of pistou

it's been a while since i last wrote.
some exciting things have happened in the meantime.
firstly though, you'll see i cut the pistou basil down. i'm going to make pesto, this time with the pine nuts and romano cheese. yum
you can see from the photos how well rooted the basil was. the Pistou basil although pungent in aroma, never really provided the same taste quotient as the previously grown basils, so it wasn't with any regret that it got axed.
i hope it'll be ok in the pesto, but then with good cheese and olive oil, i'm sure it'll work out just fine?
from the photo you'll see that cropping the basil gave me a huge amount of plant for such a small growing device.

in the meantime, i replanted the mint...having discovered i had accidently started another basil power planting!
the mint seeds are minute...so small it was impossible to put them in the sponge slit...so they got sprinkled all over the sponge surface too. the sponge holes welcomed the seeds and you can see the mint has started to grow...it's always so exciting to see new plantings appear...it's very fulfilling.
at first i was clucking when i hadn't seen instant results...i guess i'm used to everything happening immediately around my time zone...but plants...they have there own clock!
so the seeds were planted friday and the photo was taken today..7 days for germination.

since last writing, i'm now pleased to announce that prepara will now be working alongside burpee seeds to sell their seeds and hopefully the arrangement will grow into something special with new products and services being offered to power plant indoor gardeners.

btw
here are some questions from a power planter about cleaning her power plant mini;

Q. can the reservoir base be taken apart for cleaning? it would be easier for cleaning if this were possible. after my last wonderful crop of basil, some of the roots were difficult to get off the bottom.

A. pull hard on the sprayer pipe to disconnect it from the pump. (it’s very robust you won't break it)
once apart, you can take the basket out and if you want you will be able to reach to the bottom for cleaning. also you can unscrew the two screws holding the pump bracket in place and give that a clean too


Q. it also said in the instructions to clean the sprayer with a cotton swab and i am confused how this is done. it seems to be attached except for the 2 end caps and it would be hard to get a cotton swab in it that way.

A. once disassembled you can lever the caps off and also clean the middle pipe too

Q. is clorox bleach ok as the 10% bleach solution to clean it with?

A. yes, very dilute, even less than that is ok too.
if you were being a neat freak you could run it thro the pump too!!!
just remember to flush/rinse away any bleachy mix...don’t leave any residue in there!