Climate Zones for Australian Gardeners

Knowing your climate zone will help you decide the best time to sow the vegetables, herbs and flowers you want to grow, and which varieties should perform well in your garden. Growing plants that are suited to your climate zone will usually give you the best results in your garden.

How to Use Climate Zones

First, find your climate zone using the map or descriptions below. Next, refer to our sowing chart, which provides approximate sowing times for our most popular seeds for each climate zone.

While knowing your climate zone is helpful when planning your garden, there are many other factors that may affect how your plants grow, including unseasonal weather conditions, the specific microclimate of your garden and how you care for your plants. You know your garden better than us, so if a different climate zone seems to ‘fit’ your garden better, go ahead and use it as a guide.

Our climate zones cover huge areas of Australia, so we recommend gardeners also consider their local conditions when planning what and when to plant. For example, gardeners in alpine areas have shorter growing seasons than gardeners in cool coastal areas, even though both alpine and coastal areas are included in our ‘Cool Temperate’ climate zone. We recommend gardeners in cool regions look at the ‘days to maturity’ information provided for each variety and choose those that will mature in a short (6-12 week) growing season.

climate map

Tropical

Includes: Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Exmouth
High humidity summers with most rainfall in summer and dry, warm winters. Includes northern Australia from Exmouth (WA) across to south of Townsville (Qld).
Set as my climate My climate

Arid

Includes: Alice Springs, Mildura, Albury-Wodonga, Shepparton, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo
Hot dry summers, winters can be warm or cool depending on the region. Includes a large area of central Australia from the WA coast to Charleville (Qld), Tamworth (NSW) and Albury-Wodonga (NSW/Vic).
Set as my climate My climate

Subtropical

Includes: Brisbane, Bundaberg, Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast, Hervey Bay, Mackay, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast
Warm humid summers with high summer rainfall and mild winters. Includes coastal Queensland and northern NSW from north of Mackay to just south of Coffs Harbour.
Set as my climate My climate

Temperate

Includes: Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle, Toowoomba, Central Coast NSW, Wollongong, Bunbury
Moderate humidity and reliable rainfall, with four distinct seasons. Includes coastal areas from north of Port Macquarie to south of Woollongong in NSW, coastal SA and the southeastern coast of WA.
Set as my climate My climate

Cool Temperate

Includes: Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, Launceston, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mt Gambier
Low humidity with most rainfall in winter; hot dry summers and cold winters. Some regions will experience frosts and snow. Includes coastal areas of south-eastern Australia and alpine areas of Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.
Set as my climate My climate

Climate Zones FAQ

What if I can’t find my climate zone?
If you can’t locate your zone from looking at the map or the descriptions on this page, we suggest that you think of an area that has a climate that’s similar to yours and use the zone for that area as a guide.

What if I live on the border of two zones?
If you live near the border between two zones we suggest you read the descriptions for both zones and decide which best describes the climate where you live. Depending on the microclimate in your garden, you may be able to grow a wider range of plants over a longer season than others in your zone. Lucky you!

What is a microclimate?
A microclimate is a small area where the temperature or humidity differs to the climate of the surrounding area. For example, if you live in a climate zone where frosts are common but your garden is protected by buildings or large trees, your garden may be frost-free. Similarly, if you live in a warm temperate zone but your garden is at a high altitude your microclimate may have more in common with the cool temperate zone, so use this as a guide when deciding which zone is relevant to you.

Can I grow varieties not listed for my climate zone?
While our climate zones and sowing chart will help you decide what is suitable to plant in your garden, they provide general guidance only. We recommend you start by sowing seed that’s recommended for your climate zone; once you get a few successes under your belt you can experiment with varieties in neighbouring zones and see how you go – gardening is all about experimenting after all!

The Seed Bomber (VIC)

The Seed Bomber says: A pot full of heartsease with their canine guardian in the background. While he does do a good job chasing away birds that dig up our pots, he has also developed a taste for young pansy leaves and flowers!

The Seed Bomber says: Sweet basil grew in abundance this year.

The Seed Bomber says: Tomatoes were not nearly as plentiful but we got a few kilos of the cherry variety.

Syberia (NSW)

Syberia says: Accidental sweet potatoes, thought we had harvested them all but apparently not.

Syberia says: A massive harvest of a volunteer tomato plant that grew in my sidewall. I had a very happy 7 year old whom devoured all of them in 3 days

Syberia says: Small harvest after going away. We were very happy with our Small abundance. The chillies are Scotch bonnet and Jalapenos.

Toni Porter (TAS)

Toni says: My dining table full of beautiful colour- Tomatoes in various stages of ripening (I pick them as soon as they get a hint of colour and they ripen beautifully inside, to avoid pests), Zinnias which I grew for the first time this year, and Tasmanian Pepperberry, drying in a bowl - I use the leaves and berries for cooking tea

Toni says: Cafe au Lait Dahlias and Jude the Obscure Roses looking beautiful together. I get many flushes these over many weeks. My very favourite Rose and Dahlia compliment each other so well!

Anke Anna (NSW)

Anke says: Cucumbers taking over my washing line

Anke says: Scarlet Runner Beans with first bean harvest

Anke says: Tamarillos, still growing

Elina Skliarenko (VIC)

Elina says: Summer painted the garden beds, weaving bright colors and fragrances together.

In my palms, warm from the sun, rest the first apples—most cherished, crisp, and juicy. Their scent awakens childhood memories, of grandmother’s apple orchards where each fruit was a sweet secret hidden among the green leaves.

The cucumbers, rough and crunchy, still hold the coolness of the morning dew. They are like tiny forest hedgehogs, curled up among the tangled vines. The eggplant, smooth and mysteriously dark, hides beneath the foliage—a drop of night in this radiant, sunlit world. Tomatoes have soaked up the summer’s sweetness, and strawberries gleam like scattered rubies, luring with their sugary promise.

And among this abundance—flowers. As if they have gathered all the shades of summer: sunlit yellow, fiery red, deep crimson. Their petals tremble in the gentle breeze, weaving the garden’s fragrance into the morning air.

I gathered all this richness into one bouquet—summer cradled in my hands. Not just a harvest, but a symphony of nature, where every fruit and every flower is a note in the great melody of life. This morning will stay with me—the scent of fresh apples, the cool touch of cucumbers, and the silky whisper of flower petals.

Elina says: The plums have ripened in the garden. They hang in heavy clusters on the branches, warm from the sun, their deep purple skin hiding juicy, golden flesh within. A single touch, and it feels as if they are ready to tumble right into your hands.

Their taste is like childhood—like carefree summer days, like a gentle breeze in the shade of the trees. There is something magical about them, as if each plum carries a little piece of the sun’s golden smile.

Elina says: I stepped into the garden barefoot, letting the cool grass gently embrace my feet. The night’s dew had yet to dry, and the morning sun was just beginning to spill its golden light, awakening the garden. The air was filled with the scent of fresh greenery, blooming herbs, and damp earth—pure, alive, infused with the breath of summer.

I didn’t take a basket. Instead, I simply gathered the hem of my shirt and filled it with the morning’s harvest—just as I used to in childhood. A young zucchini, bumpy cucumbers still cool and rough to the touch, a sun-kissed pattypan squash, tomatoes the color of deep amber… All of it—fruits of care, warm days, raindrops, and the gentle touch of nature.

Tamara (QLD)

Tamara says: After a tough day at work, I found so much joy just wandering around the garden collecting these beautiful little blooms. It was a gentle reminder of how healing nature can be.... zinnia, cosmos and dahlia...

Tamara says: The colour!!

Ry duncan (NSW)

Ry says: Over 3kg of cucumbers! With more still on the two plants!

Cass (QLD)

Cass says: Little Miss Avery helping to harvest our bumper crop of Dutch cream potatoes in our plot at the community gardens. They were so tasty roasted, mashed and added to soup.

Cass says: Carrots grown in a raised bed at home. Ready for washing and cooking. - destined for the soup pot. I experimented with three different varieties of carrots and chantenay was a clear winner!

Cass says: Had a pretty good crop of button squash this season. Not sure how they ended up stripy, I was only expecting yellow ones - cross pollination maybe? They are very pretty looking and taste fabulous in stir fries.

Reid Homestead Dream (NSW/ACT)

Reid says: Tomatomania! I have Cherry, Siberian, Tri star, Burnley sure crop and of cause Roma.

Reid says: The joy and satisfaction of plating up food you grew from seed is next level living. Early White Spanish onions, Nicola potatoes (very high yield), Every Season carrots and, Waltham butternut pumpkin. Mmmmm

Reid says: Just after a wander around the garden. Still bringing in tomatoes ( Cherry, Tri Star, Burnley, Siberian and, Roma) along with Utah celery, Sweet basil and, Triple Curled parsley. So much joy.

Kiara (TAS)

Kiara says: In this photo you're seeing a harvest from our little backyard garden. I'm a mum of two girls, aged 6 and 9 years old. We love spending time in the garden together, and my girls have helped to plant and harvest much of this produce. Here we have some Detroit beetroot, silverbeet, sprouting broccoli, kale, pineapple sage and others. My favourite part of gardening is watching my daughter's enjoy the harvest. They will go outside and, pick and eat tomatoes, lettuce, herbs straight from the garden.

Gloria M (QLD)

Gloria says: Flowers that delight me.

Gloria says: Beautiful hibiscus

Gloria says: Jade in all its glory

Leah Fitzmaurice (WA)

Leah says: Returning from an 18 day trip is always a nervous time for a gardener! Is anything still alive?
My gardens welcome home gift basket shown here.

Leah says: Our favourite game is hunting for "baby" pumpkins and getting excited as they turn into "big daddy" pumpkins. (Yes I know, it's a squash - but to my 3 year old everything is pumpkin!)

Leah says: What does 100 chillies look like? Shame the toddler can't handle spice, darn.

Nina (NSW)

Nina says: An early morning pick for my bouquet…some peachy zinnias, a few varieties of celosia and a pop of white and purple gomphrenas!

My first season growing flowers with intention, decided to start with these ‘easy to grow’ varieties, they all had fantastic germination and grew so well! Will definitely be adding more to my collection next season!

Nina says: A dried flower wreath made from a mix of statice, strawflowers, yarrow, globe amaranth and my absolute favourite, flamingo feather celosia!

I started growing flowers in earnest in 2024, with a lean toward varieties that are gorgeous both fresh and dried.
Dried flowers, like statice, are so nostalgic for me.

Nina says: Peach ‘Zinderella’ Zinnia

Caustin (WA)

Caustin says: I grow enough veggies for my partner and myself and plenty to take along to our local Saturday morning food swap. This is just some of the produce I snapped early one morning so I could put it on our local Facebook page to remind people that it was on.

I love my veggie garden…. I chat to the plants every morning while harvesting them.

Caustin says: I have had great success growing lovely capsicums. This one was a beauty. My plants overwintered and started producing early. What a bonus!

Caustin says: I put shade cloth over the veggie garden each summer. It really helps them deal with the heat. It cost a few hundred dollars to set up but is really worth it.

Pippy (SA)

Pippy says: I planted two small banana plants in my suburban Adelaide backyard. I wanted the leaves to steam foods in and never thought we would every see the fruit.They have gone bananas. We now have two large hands of bananas and they are delicious. We have used the leaves for steaming, the bananas in smoothies,cakes and snacking on, also the inner stem of the plant in our stir fries and curries. What a diverse plant. We love it.

AMO (NSW)

AMO says: These pumpkins are the result of burying kitchen scraps into my raised garden bed instead of composting as I usually do.

Experimenting & Second Chance Successes (SA)

Experimenting & Second Chance Successes says: Autumn harvest with the last of the cherry tomatoes (Cosmic purple), yellow and red Californian Wonder Capsicums, Long Yellow Mild Banana Peppers, Serrano Chillies, Caysan Chillies, Manganji Chillies, Hot Long Red Banana Peppers, Californian Red Onions and Burgandy Okra which is still going strong. I experimented with some new varieties of tomatoes and chillies this year and found the Cosmic Purple tomatoes super sweet and very prolific with tall vines and hanging bunches of 8-10 tomatoes each….amazing in salads. Found the Manganji Chillies beautiful and sweet, shallow fried in olive oil with balsamic, garlic and cracked pepper dressing. I’m stuffing the Long Yellow Mild Banana Peppers tonight Italian style with fresh breadcrumbs, anchovies, capers, garlic and Parmesan Cheese…yum. The Okra I will use in a traditional Cypriot vegetarian dish, sautéed in a rich onion fresh tomato sauce with slices eggplant and potatoes….goes well with a freshly baked crusty sourdough. Thanks for the opportunity to share!

Experimenting & Second Chance Successes says: This image is titled ‘second chance tomatoes’! The single tomato plant on the right is a Costoluto Fiorentino that was the ‘runt’ of my late batch of seedlings and the only one that survived a bad case of red spider mite. The tomato plants towards the back are my ‘second chance’ tomato plants, attacked by red spider mite while I was overseas but resurrected for a potential late harvest. I removed the top half of the leaves of the plants that were heavily infested, leaving the tomatoes to ripen. I treated the plants with regular foliar sprays of water ( mites hate it) and dusting of diatomaceous earth. When the last of the top tomatoes ripened, I harvested them and cut the top half of the plant away. This stimulated new growth and once established I removed all of the old leaves. All of the foliage visible in the photo is new and there are also lots of new flowers and tomatoes setting. Fingers crossed my second chance tomatoes might give me an even later crop well into the end of Autumn.

Mrs Cayir (NSW)

Mrs Cayir says: This is the recent Kent pumpkin harvest among my Rosemary and rainlillies. My husband doesnt eat pumpkin but it grows so well that I use it for my confidence boosting haha. The same day we had this harvest a woman on a local facebook page found the courage to ask if anyone had any extra food she might be able to have and we were able to grab a good sized bag of bean, cherry toms and a couple of these pumpkins. We LOVED having these things just surplus and sitting in the garden when we found someone needing them. Looking forward to adding a whole lot more this cool season.

Mrs Cayir says: Our pumpkins being very photogenic amongst the rainlillies

Mrs Cayir says: The care package. Sorry, I forgot the eggs, we had plenty of chicken eggs (last week, this week is moulting season lol) to offer her too.

Jennifer Carnovale (VIC)

Jennifer says: This is the first time I've being successful at growing capsicums and there are lots of them!

Jennifer says: These piles of tomatoes and other veges are one of many harvests since 1st Jan. Cucumbers, tomatoes (Grosse lisse, cocktail variety, big tom), strawberries. I also have silverbeet, spring onions and lettuce in the same garden (pic #3).

Jennifer says: This is my larger vege garden and my pride and joy. I have harvested 57.25kg of tomatoes just in Jan and Feb this year!

Kate Vickery (VIC)

Kate says: Considering this for my bridal bouquet later in the year

Angie Trewhella (VIC)

Angie says: Night harvest of jalapenos for pickling into candied jalapenos!

Angie says: An abundance of chillies to be strung up and dried!

Angie says: Eggplants to be preserved in herbs and oil!

MJ (NSW)

MJ says: My first harvest, experimenting to see what grows best.NSW South Coast

MJ says: cucumbers and basil pesto for dinner tonight

MJ says: Keith the Kookaburra keeping an eye on things

Cin in the ‘dale (NSW)

Cin in the ‘dale says: When you notice the difference between homegrown and supermarket produce! Garden proud.

Cin in the ‘dale says: When you move from a big city to the regional nsw, live in a cool climate but you nail a few veg and also own chickens for the first time!

Cin in the ‘dale says: When you have never grown garlic before and there is that moment when you harvest a few big healthy beauties and do an awkward dance! Also added bonus of keeping the vamps away when drying out for consumption. Garden proud.

Max Giucastro (VIC)

Max says: This is this year's bumper crop of white onions that I planted in 2024 from seeds I bought from the seed collection. I have enough onions to get me through to the next planting season.

Max says: Spring onions also were plentyful from my plantings. I don't believe in using chemical sprays in my garden. If I have pests that are out of control, I will only use home made vegetable oil sprays. Most of the advice I get for my gardening is actually on the seed collection website site, it is full of articles on how to's.

Max says: Here are my kangaroo island purple garĺics which I also sourced from the seed collection. For many years I tried time, after time, to plant supermarket garlics that had sprouted in my pantry so I figured they would grow.

However every time I was disappointed with small or rotten useless garlics.

This time in 2024 when garlic planting season arrived, I thought I should try proper seed garlic instead of supermarket garlic. The proof well as you can see is in the photo of this year's bumper crop of my backyard organicly grown garlics.

Thanks to the seed collection information on the website, and the garlics that I purchased from them I will do the same this March.

Megan Macalpine (VIC)

Megan says: We were delighted with this recent winning entry in the Berwick Show. The French pumpkin was the highlight, together with South African gem squash, a variety of capsicums, brinjal and potatoes

Megan says: The display of fresh herbs was also a winner. Six different kinds, namely Sorrel, Mint, Lemon Verbena, Bay Leaves, Oregano and Curry Plant. We enjoy being able to collect a large variety of herbs from our garden for our own use. They perfume the garden and add taste and texture to food. There are so many good things about a veggie garden or a herb patch!

Megan says: Whilst the Jerusalem Artichokes (bought from you!) didn’t win a prize, we were so happy with the success of growing them for the first time.

Tien (VIC)

Tien says: There is nothing that brightens the day, and WFH desk, than a freshly cut bunch of flowers! My harvest includes sedums, lemon myrtle (smells amazing!), roses, zinnias (seeds from the Seed Collection) and dahlias (Cafe Au Lait, Salmon Joy, pink cactus Superior, white pom pom Little Angel and Atlantic Jewels). I have a small garden in Melbourne suburbia. Being able to grow flowers among the vegetables, herbs and fruit trees is immensely rewarding. Being able to share it with other like minded green thumbs makes it even better! Enjoy!

Turrumbi hobby farm (NSW)

Turrumbi hobby farm says: Blue Butterfly pea flowers, pineapple, guava, grapes, passion fruits, banana, Tamarillo, kiwis, pepino, quail eggs.

Turrumbi hobby farm says: Autumn harvest Butterfly blue pea flowers, Wampee fruit, cucumbers, dragon fruit, pineapple, passion fruit, Zucchini, grapes.

Grace (NSW)

Grace says: I planted these Autumn Bliss raspberry canes in July 2024, 10 days after I had given birth to our daughter Sophie and have named them “Sophieberries”. 7 months on baby Sophie has finally been able to enjoy the first harvest of these special plants!

Grace says: This small and humble harvest is a reminder that each season will end and make way for a new season. After giving birth to our beautiful baby girl in July 2024 I was really struggling with post natal anxiety and rarely left the house. But spending 5 minutes then 10 minutes and now hours in the garden with my little one has been the saving grace I needed. I cannot imagine a world without gardening!

Grace says: After months of expectation, my 3 glutinous corn plants yielded 1.5 cobs of corn. However these are a variety uncommon in Australia and remind my mum of her home in South Korea. Small as they may be, the smile on my mum’s face made it all worth it.

Nadia (NSW)

Nadia says: A marvellous season for the marketmore cucumber in the wicking bed. 16 plants produced close to 200 cucumbers. At one point I was picking 8-10 every 3 days. I made heaps of excellent bread and butter pickles with it. It was the perfect variety!

I also had about 10kg of delicious Tommy toe, tigerella and polish tomatoes. Excellent for eating and the polish are great for tomato chutney.

Nadia says: My marketmore cucumber pickles were perfect. And polish tomatoes suit chutney making!

Nadia says: My wicking beds in action. It became a beautiful lush forrest of vegies!

Linda (QLD)

Linda says: I just love growing Pumpkins, they are so easy! So many different ones ~ Jap, Aussie Blue and there was even a little butternut which was eaten quickly! Delicious!

Linda says: Our baby Butternut and another Jap! Off to be roasted!

Linda says: My first attempt at growing Capsicums, cute little fella!

Knomor Park (VIC)

Knomor Park says: A truck load of produce and pretty flowers!

Knomor Park says: The truckload has made its journey inbound to the kitchen! Ruby red chard, eggplant, capsicum, a variety of tomatoes, rocket, basil, barlotti beans, zucchini, carrots, cucumber!

Knomor Park says: What doesn't get eaten immediately gets preserved for a later day! Cannot wait to enjoy crab apple jelly on toast, or on a cracker with a slice of Camembert. Bread and butter pickles will be served with steak in winter. Sandwiches with lashings of zucchini pickles, ham and cheese will be enjoyed any day in school lunchboxes!

Living-mudflower (NSW)

Living-mudflower says: Nothing compares to the tastes of fresh sweet corn on the cob dripping with butter and salt. This variety tastes sweet, it is higher in antioxidants than yellow corn, and holds a lot of sentimental value. I bred this purple and white sweet corn when my daughter was born because I thought a little girl would be more likely to eat her vegetables if they were pretty. I also wanted a family heirloom to pass on. Creating this unique sweet corn has meant my kids have grown up eating vegetables that are as beautiful and delicious as they are healthy.

Living-mudflower says: I like parsley, it is so simple to grow and highly nutritious, unfortunately most varieties are too small to be very useful. I put some effort into sourcing as many different varieties I could, and crossing them, and culling, and crossing again, and developed this. The result is a giant parsley that makes other 'giant' varieties look small. We use this as a leaf vegetable, use the petioles like celery, and the roots are delicious when roasted. It is just as easy to grow this giant variety as it is to grow small unimproved varieties. The benefit of this is it is something we created ourselves.

Living-mudflower says: We have a few apple trees, these are from Pink Lady. Placing stencils on red apples while they develop means the area under the stencil does not turn red, and words or pictures can be stenciled onto them. This takes time and dedication, but is worth the effort. My kids love eating apples that have been stenciled like this, and they are a big hit at pre-school where they help to encourage other kids to be excited about eating ad growing fruit.

QueenPenelopespatch (VIC)

QueenPenelopespatch says: Autumn garden grocery harvest gives you a bit of everything. We have cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, beans, chilies, capsicum & springonions. The fun in this mystery harvest is now planning the cooking for the week from this lot.

QueenPenelopespatch says: I love chillies and am a chilli nerd. We grow chillies to preserve & use during the year. We freeze these but seperate them into three categories, mild or omlette chillies, everyday chillies (spicier ones) and Proceed with caution (the ones that will set you on fire) chillies.

Varieties include Turkish snakes, shishito, bulgarian carrot, long cayanne, black muleto, purple cayenne, serrano, caysen, Jalepeno etc. We have more chilli varieties in production too.

QueenPenelopespatch says: The beauty of this harvest is that everything was pollinated by the bees. The Honey melon was the sweetest I have tasted. We have a Cinderella pumpkin, long melon, zucchini, peppers & chilli. Added some Dahlias for the coffee table.

Peta Rogers (TAS)

Peta Rogers says: The pure taste of summer, sunshine trapped in tasty tomatoes! Down here in Tassie it’s a talking point, “when do you plant your tomatoes and when did you get your first one to eat?” Such fierce competition! My love heart of tomatoes are Black Icicle, Jaune Flamme, Tommy Toe, Yellow Pear, Honeybee and Black Cherry.

Peta Rogers says: Supermodel of the flower world. My Giant Russian Sunflowers grew to 2.9 metres tall this year and survived the strong winds. So proud!

Peta Rogers says: One of my Giant Russian Sunflowers. Guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face

Daisy Attenborough (TAS)

Daisy says: An abundance of produce from the garden! Spray-free (thanks to the wrens, frogs, spiders and skinks for picking off most of the bad bugs this year), all the plants are heirloom/organic, giving us incredibly tasty, nutrient-dense produce. There's a vaseful of edibles, including dahlia, salvia and fuchsia flowers, traditional herbs, and Tas natives such as Warrigal Greens, kunzea, and river mint. We experimented with fermented dill pickles, made sauerkraut from late red cabbage, cooked Japanese quick pickled cucumbers, created capers from nasturtium seeds, and made calendula salve and lavender body balm from the flowers in the garden. The basket of fruit and vegetables were lip-smackingly delicious!

Daisy says: Collecting seeds. Some of the seeds will be kept in readiness for sowing next spring, some will be used as seasoning in the kitchen, and the sunflower that was grown to encourage bees and other insects into the vegetable garden will now serve as a feasting platter for our free-ranging hens. The seeds: organic coriander, dill, heirloom lettuce, organic celery, silverbeet from an ancient plant in the garden, and some Tasmanian purple garlic which has been an excellent pest deterrent in all the vegetable garden beds this year.

Maria loves flowers (VIC)

Maria says: A bunch of dried Russian Statice, which I grew for the first time this year. Such a great and unique plant. Flowers forever, great as a cut flower and holds its colour well when dried. Seed from Seed Collection.

Maria says: Rose lime Zinnias, Blue Victory salvia, Burgandy Beau pincushion flowers, Lucky lips snapdragons and cinereria silver dust for foliage. All the flowers are growing in my cottage style front garden. I get lots of comments from passer-bys especially about the Zinnias. All grown from Seed collection seed

Cydde (VIC)

Cydde says: Toms, trombocino and cayenne chillis

Cydde says: Trombocino and hybrid Rugosa/Napoli punkin, curing with the cat in the sun!

Cydde says: In spite of our driest year and summer on record, small windows of respite from extreme heat allowed the tomatoes to come on, with the help of the native garden and blue banded bees

Michelle (NSW)

Michelle says: Love "harvesting" flowers for Christmas

Michelle says: The red and green capsicums just warms my heart

Michelle says: Found a new love for heirloom tomatoes

Cat Mueller (ACT)

Cat Mueller says: This year was the first opportunity I’ve had to grow a garden in the ground. I have learnt a lot! I’ve learnt that although a cottage-style garden or ‘chaos garden’ is my vibe, giving beans a designated spot next year will ensure an easy harvest. It will avoid me having to crouch and reach through a maze of cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias to grab that tasty bean, which is metres away from another tasty bean.

I’ve learnt that the rosella couple that resides in my garden loves getting to my cosmos blooms and seeds before I do, especially the pink ones! Holographic bird tape seems to have helped - and gets bonus points for bringing a party vibe to the garden. I’ve had endless flowers brightening up my kitchen windowsill, bringing joy to my housemate and me.

I haven’t bought veggies for months. The Aldi cashiers must think I now survive on a diet of cheese, yoghurt and curry paste. I’ve been making Thai red-inspired curry with my zucchinis, lime leaves, chillis, purple beans, Thai basil, and chunks of tomato for sweetness! I’ve been snacking on delicious bocconcini and basil paired with an entire rainbow of tomatoes.

Cat Mueller says: I’m excited to try my first adorable golden nugget pumpkin and overjoyed that my finger lime has fruited for the first time now that it has celebrated its fourth birthday. I’ve been enjoying making pesto out of all my tough brassicas, carrot tops, radish greens etc. with lots of sorrel to really give it a kick! I put the juice and zest of a whole lemon and use sunflower seeds for crunch. Delish.

The in-ground beds have levelled up my flower game, enabling me to shower everyone I know with bouquets. My favourite seasonal colour scheme right now is a mix of orange (‘Bright Lights’) cosmos, beautiful feathery burgundy amaranth and bright pink zinnias, paired with a cheery explosion of yellow Jerusalem artichoke flowers. I’ve also had a great time mixing in more unconventional things into arrangements. Garlic chive flower clusters are adorable. Fennel fronds are beautiful floaty greenery to pair with amaranth and white cosmos. I also love the sculptural fennel seed umbels that look like little umbrellas flipped by the wind.

I’m going to plant Russian Statice seeds now that its autumn to take over for the amaranth as the theatrical element to my bouquets - with its drape, height and movement.

Cat Mueller says: Throughout summer I’ve been using edible flowers like calendulas to decorate cakes, salads and rice paper rolls. I’ve been drying some of the petals on baking paper to use as sprinkles when they aren’t in flower. I grew a huge variety of calendula this year. My favourite was from the ‘Pacific Beauty Mix’ - a gorgeous large pale yellow flower, floppier than your standard calendula. I am excited to see what varieties self-seed next year.

Puncstorta (WA)

Puncstorta says: I moved house and I've built a new garden bed and fell up with new soil, which turned out to be very very alkaline, so hardly anything grew in it. Butter pumpkin and zucchini suffered from powdery mildew even if I made the pumpkin run up to the sky. Tomatoes were eaten by a rodent every single night. Spinach was growing well until little worms started eating them up. I harvested a few eggplants and to my surprise 4 watermelons. They just grew and grew and grew. The biggest weighed 19.9kg. This winter my job will be to add lots of manure to the soil to prepare it for next year's growing season.

Sudha (QLD)

Sudha says: I have grown these organically without any fertilisers or pesticides. You are looking at cooking banana or plantain banana, eggplants, bitter gourd, curry leaves, gourd, pumpkin and other snake beans, okra, ivy gourd. Snake beans are just getting started.

Sudha says: More of the same crop.

Sudha says: More of the same crop with chillies added.