Garden woes

Life in beksville is going as it does, with not enough time and too much to do, is there a pause button? I find myself flitting from task to task, and not anything that once done, is done. I equate it to the Sydney harbour bridge, it takes years to paint it, and by the time It's had a whole coat of paint, it's time to start painting all over again, it's work that's never done. Beksville needs to stop all trains at the station, and close the shops, for a day or ten, but alas, that's just a tad unrealistic.

It's not just everyday household maintenance, I'm not sure if it's optimism that causes me to take more on, or if I am just that masochistic, for now, I'll convince myself it's the former. A few months ago I started the grow my own food adventure, better still, I decided to grow my own food without chemical help... Or protection. Using instead the field of dreams slogan, Build it and they will come, I planted some beneficial flowers in my garden, the kind that attract the insects you want, to eat the insects you don't. As you can see from the images below, it hasn't worked yet. 

People have offered some really helpful advice, netting for my cabbages thank you Hazel, and a lot of other things such as Dishwashing liquid, chilli and garlic spray, neem oil, and various pyrethrum sprays. Apart from the netting, I didn't want to add things that might deter positive insects, I did use dipel once, but it left me feeling somewhat guilty. The welcome visitor, a blue tongue lizard I'd rather hopefully nicknamed killer, and set up water and rocks for in various spots, has not been seen for weeks. 

Last week I decided to rip out a whole bed of not doing so well Veggies and start again. It was painful to my ego, but I am still learning, and hopeful. I will be extra vigilant, and will have netting over them as soon as the new spouts rise. The problem isn't can I grow my food anymore, I know I can, my new challenge is can I grow my food and keep it. The war is on.

Should I consider the battle lost on these tomatoes? I have pulled off all of the yellow and brown leaves, and the affected fruit, I took these photos before doing so. Is it enough? Or should I just pull them out and plant something else? 

Is it too cold in autumn for them to ripen anyway? There are approximately 20 tomatoes some are starting to warm from green... What would you do? All is not lost though, we still have the greenhouse, and things are growing well, though there are now aphids and what looks like fruit flies inside it. I'll buy sticky things to hang up, I'm not sure what else to do, I have zero greenhouse experience. 

It is so cold right now, I am off to make some chickpea curry and get warm from the inside out.

Bek.