The Unintentional Side Effect of the 12WBT

You know, when you think of the 12WBT, most people think of the weightloss, the food, the exercise and the complete overhaul of your life.  However, there is one thing that has really stuck with me since I did Round 3, 2011, and that is gardening. 

It isn't something that I ever thought that I would find a passion for, but here I am, after yet another trip to the garden store.  I have always liked the idea of being able to grow things (with my aunt and sister always gardening when I was younger) and I love the idea of being able to eat food that I have grown myself.

When I first started my garden, I made a couple of posts here and here, and I kept meaning to come in here and update with photos, however there was always something I wanted to add, so I put it off until I could post up the pics.  Now however, I am going to post up a whole bunch of pictures, as I have quite a few I want to share, plus, my garden has grown (and it will grow even more soon - I'm talking size, not plants, although hopefully they will grow too lol)

I have been able to harvest snow peas, beans, spring onions, tomatos, basil, oregano, thyme, coriander (although this plant is now dead! lol), carrots and lettuce.  You can see some of these below (check out my crazy warped carrots!)

The plants grew so well in the big pots, I actually went out an bought a raised garden bed and replanted a lot of the plants in the smaller pots that weren't doing so well... and ta-da! I had a real garden!!  I had done a bit of research using my The Little Vegie Patch Co book, and I read up about having a 'no dig (lazy) garden' where you layer organic material that as it decomposes, gives nutrients to your plants.  I placed all of this into a raised garden bed that I bought at Home Hardware (which B constructed for me).

In fact, I loved the outcome so much - I bought another one!!  I am yet to construct the second garden bed, but it's there, waiting.

My garden has done really well. and I am proud to say that I haven't killed anything - other than some snow pea plants that didn't like to be moved - lesson learned!! lol

I have gotten into gardening so much, that for Christmas I asked my family for a worm farm... that's right... a worm farm!!  People are a little surprised by what I wanted (the other present I asked for was a new Polar HRM lol), but I have to say, I am so excited!!  I love that we can use our food scraps in the farm and reduce our carbon footprint that way, as well as getting some fertiliser for the garden at the same time.  I was only able to set the farm up yesterday, so I got the gardening bug yet again.... hence the trip to Bunnings lol!

I could go to town in Bunnings, there is always something there that I could find a use for...  Yesterday, I bought some more plants (parsely, chives and lavendar), and I also bought some seeds (carrot and lettuce), a couple of pots (for the lavendar and for the strawberries I bought previously) and a little seed tray/greenhouse for growing the seeds.  I didn't realise it at the time, but the lettuce seeds I bought are actually in a tape, so that you can plant them in a straight row... how awesome is that!!  Makes me want to build the second garden bed so that I can test it out!

Anyway, I have posted some pictures previously of what the garden looked like initially, so I thought I would post up a couple of photos that I took yesterday, including of the new plants.

For any newbies out there, growing your own food will be touched on during the pre-season tasks.  Mish I think mostly talks about herbs... I just took it a step (or five!) further.

This is really something that I never thought that I would find an interest in... I mean, before I started I didn't even know what "gone to seed" meant, and I knew nothing about companion planting (interesting stuff really!), now, I still know next to nothing, but I am loving learning about it.   It also plays in well with my planning side, as I get to plan ahead for what I want to grow next, and I also found an app for the ipad (and other devices) called Gardenate, which helps you plan your garden and tells you when to harvest.  You can find their website here.