The students hit the garden running–literally. 🙂 It’s understandable. Gardening is exciting! I mean, have you ever seen what a real “bunch” of broccoli looks like on the plant?
It’s cool. Fascinating, really. Mind you most of these kids have never seen broccoli still attached to the stalk. No trip to the grocery store, no plastic wrap, and you can eat it? You bet. But eat it before it goes to flower.
By then, the bees are swarming and the plant is throwing its energy into creating seed pods.
Take a close look. Inside each one of those pods is a line of tiny seeds, and I do mean tiny. We can pluck them now and leave them to dry in a paper bag–preferrably a white paper bag–that way we’ll be sure not to lose a single one! And since we’re self-sustaining gardeners, seed harvesting is very important. It’s the beginning of our next crop!
But broccoli aren’t the only excitement to be had in the garden right now. The sugar snaps are dangling from the vine…
And the stevia is out of this world–in both growth and taste!
Yep, you guessed it. The kindergartners sampled the stevia today and when they learned they were growing their own form of sugar? There were smiles all around, save for one. The leaf was spit out on the spot. The children were reminded we never eat leaves unless an adult informs us they are safe, and leaves in our herb garden–stevia, rosemary, sage and parsley–are all safe to eat. It’s why we grow herbs!
So if you’re looking for an easy herb to grow, try stevia. Sweet, delicious, easy. LOVE it!
Your link to your free companion planting guide does not work can i please get the guide?
Thank you for letting us know about the issue. Here is the link: https://bloominthyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/COMPANION-PLANTING-GUIDE.pdf