Following the planting of a few tomatoes a few months ago that have gone wild, my interest in growing other edibles has become an obsession with my herbal jungle increasing daily.
Nothing like the satisfaction of growing your own produce (preferably organic)and making it a good part of a healthy meal.
We have had ideal growing conditions in Melbourne, Australia this year and most varieties are booming.
Chili, celery, spring onions, sweet potatoes (a little late, or early however they are going great), mints, beetroot, basils and others make some interesting dishes.
For those space restricted, a few pots with some quality potting mix or good garden soil can produce an abundance of healthy goodies.
With the never ending spiral of governments taxing anything that breathes or looks like it still has a few left, banks anouncing mega profits and crying poor, power companies hiking prices every time someone mentions CO2 any money saved is a bonus.
Excercise is an added bonus while pottering around in the garden also smake for a healthy lifestyle.
Let those green fingers go wild!
We spent some time last year and got some tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. The blueberries and watermelons didn't do anything. We also had a pot for herbs. It was nice to be able to run out and get some food in the garden.
Dietwise, I'm not organized enough to grow my own veggies but, last August, my cholesterol went up a tick, the bad was 110 and the doc said "w/ T1, you should be under 100, you're close but if it goes up more, we should look into some meds..." so I switched out a few carbs (pretzels...) for snacks, not a lot but maybe 1/2 serving/ day, with carrots and broccoli and then switched my eggs from ham & cheese to spinich and broccoli and chia seeds (having read "Born to Run", about the Tarahumara runners in Mexico...). A couple weeks later, I had my best running week ever, PR 1/2 on Sunday and good 20 miles at a 9:45 pace the following Saturday and felt REALLY good, not a lot of ugly recovery struggles. I've stuck to the veggies since then and my next Cholesterol the bad one was back down in the 80s
And add a compost bin or worm farm to your jungle to help feed next year's veggies!
Maureen, who is also gardening across the Nullabor in Perth.
Wish I was there it's winter here 2 more months before we would start planting in Dallas. I started gardening years ago it was kind of a green project. My plan in the beginning was to make Alcohol to burn in my car and scooters but when I found out there was a stiff tax about 1.10 per gallon and they put you in jail if you don't pay I decided on a garden. This year I'm going to add back yard chickens to my hobby it's high on the new green thing to do list.
Good idea Maureen, have a compost bin which I have never emptied as yet, a whole lot of scraps, leaves etc go in there so may be a few of the little guys under there having a snack.
Hi JohnG, at least there won't be any alcoholic chickens running around your yard. Spoil sports these revenue collectors, if it did'nt work out for the car you could have had some interesting cocktails!
Yes it is amazing experimenting with different foods/veges/herbs and finding what works. As an almost 5 year T1 also and experimenting with just about every potion, lotion, vitamin, mineral and editable item known to mankind it is gradually narrowing down to a few well known ones that have been around for thousands of years that have any noticable effect.
A few , garlic, ginger, tumeric, lemon, cinnamon, manuka honey and chili, sometimes a combination of some have starred over time to have some effect on ones health maintenance. Also exercise as you have discovered along with fresh air, sunshine and good water can be miracle "medicines"
Yay! Go team vegetable growers. It's a funny thing, my diet is about 70% vegetable/fruit based, but I can't grow anything to save my life. I have a negative zero green thumb. Lucky me though, my mom started an amazing garden last summer and keeps me stocked with yummy greens, squash and herbs!
I like to grow tomato plants. I have far more than I can eat with two plants so it is fun to give them away. I have a lady who takes some of them and makes salsa, which is good too.
Brian, the Italians here make tomato sauce for their pasta sauce. They bottle it but when I made it I freeze it in convenient size portions. Super easy to do with your excess tomatoes.