I ran across this blog post on Learning and Yearning, a really cool blog that I read. I loved this how to, especially since it did not take any special equipment; just a juice glass and newspaper. Planting season is coming, if you start preparing now, you will be less rushed later! Enjoy! |
Cheaper and More Earth Friendly Than Plastic
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I went outside yesterday to do some weeding and I was shocked to see how many more vegetables were ripe and ready to be picked. So much for the theory that my plants are winding down for the season. I picked a bunch of green beans (I thought they were done for the season!) and a bunch more red peppers, green peppers and banana peppers. I harvested two beautiful Romaine lettuce plants (there are at least 8 more) and a ton more leeks. I also noticed that about half of the yellow Spanish onions heads were big enough to pull up. I toted a large bucket full of veggies to the kitchen for cleaning. I didn't even get to the tomatoes yet, I will pick them later in the week. Whew! I thought the summer planting was coming to a close. Not even close. This is my Stevia plant, just before I repotted it in a larger pot. I bought this plant at a local nursery, and when I got home, I did some research on how I could turn it into sweetner. It's really not that difficult, but the homemade sweetner is not a strong as what you buy in the store. It is, however, much cheaper. When you start out, you really need to buy a store bought seedling. Trying to grow a viable plant that will yield a good crop of sweet leaves from a seed is almost impossible. Stevia plants only produce good leaves for two years and after that they should be discarded. In order to keep from having to buy new plants every year, at the end of the season, you can take cuttings from your plants, root them, pot them and store them inside for the winter. In the spring, bring them outside after the last frost and you are good to grow. :) In Five Days or Less !
Growing your own sprouts is easy and fun, I just started growing them a couple months ago, and I could not believe how quick and easy it is. I also have found myself putting them in and on stuff that I never did before like stir fries and salads. I even have begun tossing them into my smoothies. Whew! I just got done dealing with all the peppers I picked. I had a plastic grocery bag full and it took a while to clean and process them. Luckily for me, the bell peppers are not quite ready for picking yet, they need about another week, but the sweet banana peppers and gypsy peppers had tons of mature ones, so a-picking I went.
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