About Plant Hardware

Plant Hardware is a research and publishing company that teaches people how to bring plants into their lives, and get the most benefit out of them. Recently we’ve been focusing on growing microgreens at home, in the most efficient and sustainable ways possible.

Plant Hardware is best known for its blog posts and hands-on experiments on growing microgreens, with a YouTube channel on the way in Q2 2020.

“We help people get started on their microgreens adventure by sharing everything we know”

Our Story

We bought the domain name PlantHardware in 2019. The site initially explored all types of plant related subjects looking for a niche where there was a good opportunity to add value. The idea was to find a niche where the easily available information online was lacking roots in science.

Ultimately the path led Plant Hardware to move into microgreens, where Alex had experience experimenting and growing. It’s been easy to build a steady stream of original content through sharing first-hand experience, and debunking some of the mis-information available online.

Whenever possible, the goal is to directly test, collect real data, and share that information with the readers and viewers. And because microgreens (and food in general) is a safety-sensitive subject, we stay up to date on safety certifications.

Looking forward, we’re excited to expand testing to put together at least one solid microgreen experiment per month, and share everything we find, whether it’s a success or not. Youtube is also on the horizon, as a lot of the information is very visual and better communicated with videos than photos or text.

Plant Hardware is written and edited almost exclusively by Alex.

My name is Alex

And I love plants. 

I’m no stranger to getting out into nature. As a kid, my parents forced the family to get out into the Rocky Mountains. It felt like almost every weekend. We would hike to mountain peaks, bike, jump in lakes, and snowboard, all as a family. I loved it.

That unique feeling you get when you’re deep in nature, surrounded by it. That’s a feeling I want access to year-round. Access to that feeling motivates much of my travelling, research, and work. Maybe it does for you too.

That feeling has deep roots:

“ This is what I prayed for, A piece of land – not so very big, with a garden and, near the house, a spring that never fails, and a bit of wood to round it off “

-The Roman Poet Horace, sometime around 30 B.C

My background

In my late teenage years I started a landscaping company. I went door to door offering my services, eventually expanding into a full-fledged landscape design, construction, and maintenance company. This gave me a deep appreciation for the power of plants to transform a space, to connect people to nature, to spark joy.

Half way into a fence post hole and hitting a boulder the size of a microwave…

… Trying to plant a 20 foot tree without the right equipment.

… Having whole pallets of sod show up to site yellow and black, steaming hot from decomposition…

…What a ride!

The landscaping site isn’t online anymore, but you can find a snapshot from the past using the WayBackMachine.

More Recently

I completed a Bachelor of Science in Engineering under the department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary. I learned a lot about geology, energy, and how fluids flow through porous mediums like soil and rock.

I was invited to join the executive team of the FUSE Collective as Vice President Operations and Finance. FUSE at its core is a sustainability Initiative and an incubator. The mission is to create the next generation of leaders in energy, environment and economy. 

I think something that a lot of people don’t appreciate, is that sustainability and efficiency are two sides of the same coin. Two different ways of talking about doing more with less.

I completed the Fourth Class Power Engineering program at SAIT. The program covers a lot of building science, and working with piping, pressure, lighting, and mechanical systems. I like to think of it as industrial plumbing. A lot of the content is directly applicable to living wall and landscaping irrigation, ventilation, and lighting systems.

Every Day Greens

I run Every Day Greens where I grow microgreens and sell them locally in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I sell the microgreens as freshly cut the morning of delivery, or as living plants in soil.

You can find out more by checking out the site:

Every Day Greens (Links to Local Website)

Research

I’ve been following a select group of plant researchers for years and would love to replicate some of their experiments when I have the resources.

• Dr Rhonda Patrick works on (among other things) the role of micronutrients on aging and health, I’m simplifying big-time, but she has really interesting things to say about broccoli sprouts & microgreens in particular.
• Dr Jill Farrant is engineering desiccation tolerant, drought resistant crops.
• Dr Joanne Chory is designing plants we will need to feed the growing world population.
• Dr Jonathan Trent is extracting energy from human waste with algae. In the past he worked with extremophiles.
• Dr Anna Lisa Paul is working on epigenetics of plants in space. In space, which genes are expressing and why?

Looking forward

What if I could improve my productivity and energy levels at home and at work, without moving or changing offices? Maybe I don’t need to fly south to get a taste of the tropics. Or go on a retreat to reset into a healthy diet. Hm…

I’m getting into microgreens optimization in a big way, and this website is where I’ll build on my previous experience, and share everything I learn as I go.

Alex