I could not help it – this title. Jeanne Grunert, who blogs from her farm in Virginia, just posted “How to Grow Stevia” and I simply had to take advantage of it.
Nothing wrong with Stevia, mind you. I just planted mine all wrong.
A friend had given me a lovely Salvia last May (about a foot tall and very skinny) and it did not grow much at first. So, when I brought a tiny Stevia home a month later, I put it about 15 inches from the Salvia and expected the two would happily coexist. Well, not quite!
That Stevia took off and hasn’t stopped yet. Today, after a week of rain, it is flopping all over the place and I finally put a few stakes near it, hoping not so much that it will survive (it will!), but that the poor Salvia will still have a chance.
So, my advice, in addition to what Jeanne teaches you, is this: if you are going to plant Stevia, give it plenty of space!
Nothing wrong with Stevia, mind you. I just planted mine all wrong.
A friend had given me a lovely Salvia last May (about a foot tall and very skinny) and it did not grow much at first. So, when I brought a tiny Stevia home a month later, I put it about 15 inches from the Salvia and expected the two would happily coexist. Well, not quite!
That Stevia took off and hasn’t stopped yet. Today, after a week of rain, it is flopping all over the place and I finally put a few stakes near it, hoping not so much that it will survive (it will!), but that the poor Salvia will still have a chance.
So, my advice, in addition to what Jeanne teaches you, is this: if you are going to plant Stevia, give it plenty of space!
