For a long time on HIVE, @simplymike ran a fantastic garden challenge. The idea was that once a month, bloggers would share details of their gardens, showing us what they're growing, how they're growing it, or even what their struggles might be. From Africa to Belgium, Canada to Australia, England to France, gardeners posted stories, photos and their trials and tribulations. It's always been one of my favourite challenges on HIVE, particularly as I'm a keen gardener myself, believing in it's benefits for mental health, the environment and for our physical bodies.

A few days ago, I chatted to @ravensking13 about his own fledgling garden and I told him my idea to resurrect this challenge whilst @simplymike is having a break. She's happy for me to do this and will be more than welcome to take it back off me should she have the headspace to continue it. I hope she even might share what's happening in her own edible and medicinal garden on the other side of the world from me.

I'm not sure how sane I am starting this challenge headed into my winter, as you all go excitedly into Spring, but I do love to see the happiness of northern hemisphere gardens when I'm freezing down in Victoria. Don't worry though - I live in a climate where food grows all winter, so no doubht I'll be sharing too.

What to Share

Do you have a herb garden, a vegetable patch, a flower garden or even grow vegetables on your window sill? Maybe you have a grow room under lights, a community garden or you are growing roses. It doesn't matter what kind of garden it is - we are all different in our tastes! Diversity is one of the interesting things about this challenge.

Try to use at least 300 words describing your garden - what's worked well? what's failed? You might like to make your post more appealing with a personal story or even a garden recipe. You might like to focus on only one plant or the whole garden.

You might also like to 'theme' your post around environmental values, abundance, community, health, sustainability or any other related theme.

A Few Guidelines

• Reblog this post
• Please use the tag #naturalmedicine or post in the Natural Medicine community. @minismallholding creates the Lotus Garden newsletter and this makes it easier for her to find you and reward you.
• We're happy for you to post in other communities but don't forget to use the tag #GARDENJOURNAL in addition to any others you might use.
• Please use original photos and make sure they aren't blurry!
• No plagiarism
• Please don't use the cover image or refer to the contest as your 'title' - refer to the contest at the end eg 'This post is in response to the Garden Journal challenge, hosted by @riverflows, that you can find [here](link). It should stand alone as a worthy post so outsiders would enjoy it.
• Please check the tag during the week and comment on other people's posts. ENGAGEMENT IS KEY.
• POST THE LINK TO YOUR POST UNDER THIS CHALLENGE POST!

Prizes

Each month, I'll give out a total of 30 HIVE from my personal account, and 300 LOTUS. I'll distribute this how I see fit - if I don't get a lot of entries, or they aren't at a good standard we expect on HIVE, I might give away less - but I'm usually pretty generous and may give away more!

As Natural Medicine supports this kind of content, we'll also be upvoting, reblogging and even tipping the best ones, and submitting them to curation projects for further support.

The due date will be the 15th of March.

Above all, have fun, and happy gardening!

Welcoming any sponsors that might like to contribute to this challenge!