Stevia rebaudiana

I mentioned in my previous post that I have bought a new plant and yes, the name of the plant is in the title of today's post. As told in the same previous post, I did a little goggling on the plant and here's what I have obtained thus far. From what I have found about the plant, stevia rebaudiana or simply stevia is a member of the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It has been used for centuries as a sweetener and it is only recent that we began intensively farming and using this plant as a natural sweetener due to its inherent sweetening property. According to wikipedia, yes wikipedia again, the plant contains extracts that are 300 times sweeter than the sugar that we use and the plus side is it is low in calories. These extracts are completely natural and they are definitely safer to consume than artificial sweeteners such as aspartame which may be detrimental to the human health. Unlike the rest of the artificial sweeteners, stevia extracts have been found to be medicinal and beneficial to the human health. Some of the ailments that the plant is purported to treat are heartburn, high blood pressure and it is highly useful for diabetics who have to take carbohydrate-controlled diets. Since it is low in carbs and so many folds sweeter than ordinary sugar, just a small amount is needed in the everyday diet. Moreover, with the medicinal properties, it is clearly a good alternative to the run-of-the-mill sugar. However, the use of stevia as a food addictive is still banned in many countries, especially Singapore. I find it a pity that such a commercially viable and healthy substitute is banned as a addictive due to insufficient studies and unsubtantiated claims that it may be harmful to health. Nevertheless, it can be used as a supplement and privately, we can still take it as a homeopathic cure. 

I will be taking cuttings of my stevia plant soon. Hope the cuttings will be able to grow into new stevia plants. Given the right conditions, I think they will. I guess only time will tell and I will definitely post the updates once I have done that. Watch this space!

Stevia discovery

It's really fun to learn about a new plant such as its name, cultivation method and on top of that its medicinal properties, if any. I made such an exciting discovery when my mum bought a sweet leaf stevia plant from a nursery of sorts. Anyway, I looked up wikipedia and was amazed to find a lot of information about the plant. Since it is so late now, I think I will continue the post tomorrow. Ciao!

Parsley

I am madly in love with herbs, to the effect of wanting to grow any herb I can get my hands on. Just a few weeks ago (I can't exactly remember when), I sowed the parsley seeds that I got from NTUC and the seedlings are thriving well now which I hope stays this way for as long as possible. Pictures of the seedlings will be posted as soon as they are captured on camera. For now, let me share some background information on the popular herb that is prevalently used as garnish to whet our appetite. 

Parsley is a biennial plant that is prized for its leaves. A few varieties of parsely are commonly found and the variety that's growing in my corridor garden is the curly leaf cultivar. Other common cultivars include the Hamburg and Neopolitan. Besides being a culinary herb as mentioned afore when it is used as a garnish, parsley is purported to have medicinal properties as well. According to wikipedia, it is capable of controlling high blood pressure when administered as an infusion. The crushed leaves of the parsley can even be used to salve mosquito bites. 

I am still working on the cultivation details of parsley. At this moment, I can only say the germination of parsley is longer than most herbs. To speed up the germination process, one thing that the cultivator can do is to soak the seeds in water overnight to soften the testa or seed coat.

The plant is also often planted around tomato plants as a companion to the tomato. The idea, or belief is that the plant attracts beneficial insects that help overcome the pest problem that tomato plants usually have. On top of that, it is also said that the scent of the plant masks the strong smell of the tomato plants and in a way, conceal the existence of the lycopersicon from potential pests. Being a fan of tomatoes, how can I not love parsley?

Cont'd

Lemon balm, a member of the mint family as mentioned previously, is a truly useful plant with many pleasant properties. Not only is it an edible plant which can be used in cooking, it is also purported to drive pesky mosquitoes away with its active ingredient, citronella, a distinct chemical that gives it the distinct lemony smell. My lemon balm is growing strong now and I hope it will flower soon so that I can propagate more of it. Wish me luck!

An introduction to lemon balm

Belonging to the same family as Mint, lemon balm looks quite similar to mint. Just like the mint plant, lemon balm bears scented leaves which has many varied uses. For instance, it is commonly used to replace lemons in drinks if lemons are not available. Here's another reason why I love the lemon balm plant. Thanks to the active ingredient citronella produced by the lemon balm, it is said to repel mosquitoes which is very useful in tropical countries such as Singapore... ... (to be continued)

Mint

As the official first entry, I will be listing out guidelines or instructions on how to propagate mint, a popular herb that most of us love. It is easy to grow and you will have a garden full of them if you follow the rubrics mentioned below.

Just some brief description and information on Mint:

Name of plant: Mint (Common Name)

Scientific Name (Latin Name): Mentha (Genus) and (lamiaceae)

There are many different cultivars or varieties of mint including peppermint and spearmint. It is advisable that you grow them from cuttings rather than from seed as it is faster than seed propagation. Furthermore, the new mint plant is genetically identical to the cutting that you took. As such, the flavor and taste of the plant will be the same which is an advantage of artificial propagation.

To grow mint, you need to have a good potting mix id est. a good base for your mint to grow in. For that, you can try mixing burnt soil with volcanic ash. Volcanic ash is available in most of the supermarkets and you can get it at less than 2 dollars if you patronize the right store.

You may ask why volcanic ash is added. Well, the reason is simple. Volcanic ash makes the potting mix soft and that allows the roots of the mint to penetrate easily. There is also better drainage if you add volcanic ash. The purpose of the burnt soil is to hold the important and vital nutrients in for the mint plant to tap on.

After you are done putting together the potting mix, plant the cutting (make sure you allow the roots to grow first) in the potting mix and leave in a shaded place. It will take a few days for the roots to grow and for the plant to establish itself. Give it some time and you will see more leaves growing, which is a sign that the plant is ready.

Here comes the next question: What can you do with the leaves? For one, the leaves can be made into tisane which is a herbal infusion that is drunk mainly for its medicinal properties. Mint leaves contain the active ingredient Menthol and it is said to help relieve coughs and cold. If you are unfortunate enough to have caught a cold or flu, taking a sip of mint tisane may be just the cure.

Wonderful Tomato*

(*In case you are wondering what the title of my blog means, mirabilis lycopersicon refers to the title of this entry shown above. Mirabilis is the Latin word for "wonderful" and lycopersicon is actually the Scientific name of tomatoes or part thereof.)

Finally, my dream has come true after months of contemplating! I have always wanted to start an online green diary and I cannot believe my dream has finally come to fruition. Elated as I evidently am, I shall set out to post all botanical and environment related entries on this very blog and hopefully I will fill out these pages with pictures of all my wonderful plants and some of my thoughts with regards to plants and their care. As such, I will cease to post any new info about my plants on my first blog and instead, concentrate such entries here.