Growing Stevia

I am growing stevia.  Today I stopped by my local grocery store and they had a stevia plant out in front so I grabbed it.  I wanted to do it last year, but I didn't get around to it, so consider 2012 the great stevia growing year!  

Obviously I need to get some compost for this.  After I left the store I tasted a leaf and WOAH, was it sweet!  My plan is to throw a few leaves in my summer smoothies and then dry them out at the end of the summer and hopefully use them in the winter in the same way. 

In the next few weeks I will be working on clearing out my raised garden beds and adding copious amounts of compost (how is that for alliteration?) so that when Mother's Day passes I can get my summer veggies in the ground.  I am planning on doing a ton of tomatoes to freeze for sauces over the winter.  I am also going to do squash and zucchini, and maybe green beans.  I need to get more strawberry plants because mine are a few years old.  And basil.  I will be growing basil like crazy.  Then I will make strawberry basil lemonade.  Yum.  With stevia blended in.  Double yum!