Sweeten your meals by growing your own sugar substitute in gardens or containers. Stevia is natureâs own sweetener that can be snacked upon fresh or added to soups, sauces, or beverages.
Wait for warm nights and the danger of frost to pass before planting stevia outdoors. It is a perennial in USDA zones 8 and warmer, but those gardening in colder areas must grow stevia like an annual.
Start plants from seed, cuttings, or transplants. Seeds are difficult to find and even more difficult to sprout. Use this method if you like a gardening challenge.
Reduce your effort and increase success by starting with transplants. Check garden centers and mail order catalogs for plants. Place Stevia plants 12 inches apart in full sun or light shade with moist well-drained soils. You will get the best growth and most leaves during the long warm days of summer.
MELINDA MYERS
Submitted Photo
Stevia, natureâs own sweetener, can be grown indoors or out as long as the plants receive proper care. Photo from MelindaMyers.com.
Sweeten your meals by growing your own sugar substitute in gardens or containers. Stevia is nature’s own sweetener that can be snacked upon fresh or added to soups, sauces, or beverages.
Wait for warm nights and the danger of frost to pass before planting stevia outdoors. It is a perennial in USDA zones 8 and warmer, but those gardening in colder areas must grow stevia like an annual.
Start plants from seed, cuttings, or transplants. Seeds are difficult to find and even more difficult to sprout. Use this method if you like a gardening challenge.
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MELINDA MYERS
Submitted Photo
Some raised beds have built-in water reservoirs to extend the time between watering. Photo from Gardener’s Supply Company.
When your plant list is longer than the available gardening space it is time to expand your planting options. Create new gardening space by adding raised bed gardens, elevated planters, and containers wherever space allows.
Convert the end of the drive or edge of the patio into raised bed gardens. Just use a raised bed liner to contain the soil. Raising the garden makes planting, maintaining and harvesting easier on the back and knees. It also allows you to create the perfect soil foundation by filling your raised bed with a quality planting mix.
What s inside potting soil? Everything but soil. danchooalex/Getty Images
If you find it shocking that there s no actual dirt in potting soil (also known as potting mix), you re not alone. Much of the confusion is probably because gardening experts don t use the word soil the same way that regular people do. Soil is a broad term and is often used interchangeably with planting medium. Soil in general is composed of minerals and organic matter (decomposing plant, animal or microbial matter), explains Paul Cunningham, hard goods buyer for Pike Nurseries & Armstrong Garden Centers in an email interview. A planting medium refers to a variety of materials used for planting in containers or the ground. Depending on the recipe, potting soil is soil because it contains all ingredients mentioned.