Posts Tagged ‘ plants ’

Stevia: How Sweet it is

One of the plants that’s thriving in my oh-so-wet-and-rainy garden this year is stevia. It’s the first time I’ve grown it, so I’m pleased to see it do so well, but how to use it? For starters, just chewing on a fresh leaf gives a burst of sweetness that’s welcome when you’re trying to cut back on processed sugars. I’ve tried tossing a few fresh leaves in with hot tea, but don’t notice much in the way of sweetening with this method. I really wanted to have a go-to sweetener at the ready for tea and coffee, so I decided to try drying it, which was super simple to do. I stripped the leaves from the stems, cleaned them in a bowl of water, and took them for a spin in the salad spinner.

Peppers!

By Kris Bordessa

I’ve struggled to grow bell peppers in the past. They just didn’t thrive and they took a really long time to mature. A couple of years ago I picked up a six-pack of Gypsy bells and planted them in my California garden. And oh my word. Talk about prolific! These peppers were nice and sweet, with a bell shape though not quite as large and square as your standard bell pepper. The plants were loaded all season and the peppers just kept coming. I had way more than I needed. This year, I ordered seeds (incidentally, they’re hard to find) and started plants myself. These are shaped a little differently than they ones I’d grown in the past. We’ll see how they compare over the season. (Kicking myself that I didn’t save some of the seeds from that first Gypsy bell crop!)

Saving Seeds

By Kris Bordessa

I’m kind of an intermittent seed saver, but it’s something I’m interested in doing more of. With so many questionable seed sources these days, I think it’s a good idea. It will allow me to maintain a continuous supply of heirloom seeds for my own use, plus I can share or trade the seeds with others, keeping these plants in cultivation. I’ve already harvested a couple of small crops of daikon (a type of radish) and allowed one or two of the plants to go to seed. The flowers are followed by pods. When the pods get fat and look like they’re starting to dry out, it’s time to pull the plant and let the seed pods thoroughly dry. I just put mine in a recycled planter and tucked it under the house where it wouldn’t get wet. Once the pods are thoroughly dried out, break them open to reveal the next generation of seeds. If you’re interested in saving some of your garden seeds, note that heirloom seeds will “come true” from year to year. In other words, you’ll end up with a plant with the same characteristics from year to year. This is not true with hybrid...

Save that Water!

By Kris Bordessa

Instead of pouring the water that you’ve used to cook hard boiled eggs, vegetables, or pasta down the drain, allow it to cool and then use it to water some of your outdoor plants. Alternatively, you can use the boiling water to kill weeds. Just pour the hot water onto driveway cracks or other weedy areas (NOT near plants you’d like to keep!) for a chemical free weed killer.

Save Your Seedlings from Bugs

By Kris Bordessa

Something has been munching my seedlings and transplants off right at the ground, so I’ve been using cardboard toilet paper tubes to foil the little buggers. When planting large seeds like melons or squash, I push a section of tube (I cut the rolls in half) into the soil so about 1/2″ of the tube is above ground level and then plant my seed inside the tube. I do the same with small transplants, making sure not to damage the roots as I push the tube around the plant. The tube will decompose over the growing season. It does work. I planted out three small pepper plants the other day, but only used a cardboard ring around two of the plants. The third, unprotected pepper was gone by the next morning. To use this method with bigger transplants, just cut the ring open and slip it over the plant’s stem.

How to Plant a Seed

By Kris Bordessa

As someone who’s been growing a garden – or at least helping to grow a garden – since I was a child, it is almost unfathomable to me that someone could not know how to plant a seed. I’ve had several people ask me about seed starting recently, though, so I have to assume that there are more people out there who have yet to acquire this knowledge. Good news: It’s simple! To get a head start on the growing season, plan to start your seeds 4-6 weeks before you’ll be ready to set them out in the garden. This will be determined by your region’s last frost date. You don’t want to plant your garden too early, only to have Jack Frost kill all of your little plants. You will need: A container: You can reuse nursery containers if you have them, or alternatively, use plastic containers scrounged from the recycle bin* Potting soil (available at nurseries or hardware stores) Seeds Fill your containers with potting soil to within 1″ of the top. Seed packets include planting directions and will note the planting depth for each type of seed. Generally speaking, if you’re planting a large seed (beans,...

Save a Seed

By Kris Bordessa

I read recently that seeds saved from a pepper are easy to grow. Of course, I had to try it. Instead of discarding the seeds from a jalapeno pepper I was cooking with, I stuck several of them into a small container full of potting mix. I now have several pepper seedlings that I can plant out in the garden once they’re a bit bigger. I’m going to try the same with banana peppers and bell peppers, too, rather than purchasing seeds or plants.

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Posts Tagged ‘ plants ’

Stevia: How Sweet it is

Peppers!

Saving Seeds

Save that Water!

Save Your Seedlings from Bugs

How to Plant a Seed

Save a Seed

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