Garden Share Collective

It's time once again to join Lizzie @ Strayed from the Table for another round of Garden Share Collective.

January was a month of contrasts that began with devastating bushfires, followed by some desperately needed rain and then a return to much cooler weather.

Down in the garden things are finally starting to happen.

I lost all my Scarlet Runner and Butter beans, which had just begun to flower, during the heat wave at the start at the month. I had to sow two more times before any germinated. I have put up shade cloth to protect them from the afternoon sun and so far, so good.

I successively sowed four lots of corn seeds, but only the first two germinated and they are almost ready to harvest.

The cucumber plants are covered in flowers but no sign of cucumbers yet.

The chillies and capsicums are doing especially well this season and should provide me with more than enough for drying and freezing.

Cayenne chilli

Self-sown Bok Choi

My autumn fruiting raspberry is flowering. Is it normal for it to flower this early?

It took a while, but the strawberries are at last setting fruit and are sending out runners as well. Hopefully I will end up with enough to fill the bed without having to buy any more.

Immature fruit of the Red Gauntlet strawberry

 I really need to get better at labelling plants. I planted two different types of watermelon, but have no idea which is which now. There are only three at the moment, but judging by the amount of flowers on each of the vines there are going to be a lot more.

And  just because I think it's pretty, a lovely mauve flower on the mint bush.

Planting: I have planted the last of the summer crops now, which included English spinach, endive, rocket and a variety of lettuce. I won't be planting anymore now and instead I will start sowing seeds for my winter crop as soon as my seeds arrive.

Harvesting: Tomatoes (412g), basil, chillies and capsicum. 

Just before I go, I have a question about my tomato plants that some of you more experienced gardeners might be able to answer for me. What is wrong with my tomato plants?

  The plants started out lovely and green and lush, but then the leaves started to turn yellow and now they look like this. Does anyone know why?

The Garden Share Collective is a group of bloggers who share their vegetable patches, container gardens and the herbs they grow on their window sills. Creating a monthly community to navigate through any garden troubles and to rival in the success of a good harvest we will nurture any beginner gardener to flourish. Each month we set ourselves a few tasks to complete by the next month, this gives us a little push to getting closer to picking and harvesting. The long-term goal of the Garden Share Collective is to get more and more people gardening and growing clean food organically and sustainably.