The Verdict. 

As a group, you all have decided that I should feature 15 participants per week.  That works for me!  There were several great suggestions about creating a new blog where we could all post, or setting up an RSS feed, or delegating the work somehow.  To be honest, those sounded like just as much work for me.  Plus I like rounding your sites, and seeing what you’re up to.

So, keep gardening and blogging once/week.  I’ll be by your place every couple of weeks to see what you’re up to and to write about it!

Your Assignment.

Since I do like the idea of dividing us up by zone, and some of you seemed to agree, I will indicate your zone next to your site in the recaps. 

That means you have to tell me what zone you’re in!  For North American gardeners just use the below form for a quick way to figure out your zone (or click here).  For Australian gardeners, find your zone here, European gardeners click here, South American gardeners click here.    Then email me, or leave a comment with the results!!  Psst:  do it now, so you don’t forget ; ).

Feel Free to Leave A Comment Telling Us What You’re Up To.

Please feel free to check in each week and let us all know what you’ve written about.  Just leave a link in the comments!

There is also a list of everyone who is participating here:

http://web.mac.com/elementsintime/creatinglandscape/Grow_Challenge.html

New Members.

I owe Colleen a bit of an apology, as I just plain missed her the last two weeks:  sorry, Colleen!  I’m very excited she’s joined the Challenge.  She’s another expecting parent in the group (“my life is one gigantic pregnancy at this point”, she says)!

Colleen originally set out to grow lemon cucumbers and sage for the Challenge.  But Anthony has her thinking about a few others as well:  a dependable “Straight 8” cucumber in case she doesn’t like the lemon cukes, and chamomile for the tea she drinks daily to ... continue to be a calm and collected mommy, shall we say? 

Colleen is also growing many new types of tomatoes (her list makes me long for those mid-summer days...).  And she has a great run-down of her three “must-have tomatoes”, for those of you trying to figure out what varieties to start with.

Votiso’s World

Jonathan says he’s not much of a gardener, but he’s learning.  I think a lot of us can identify with that!  Last year he planted an herb garden that lasted through the Austin, TX winter, and he’s beginning to get a grasp on how to maintain his fruit trees.  So it’s time for some vegetables!  He’s purchased seeds for tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and carrots.  When he returns from a trip up north, he’s planning to start the seeds, and check his soil.  Sounds like he’s on the right track!

How cool is this:  The Growing Challenge post was Doug’s first ever blog post!  He says he’s new to gardening, but check out his list of seeds - wow.  He’s a man on a mission!  Maybe he’ll enlighten us about some of the unusual crops on his list, like sorghum, nipple fruit, and prickly caterpillar?

Apparently ordering and trading seeds is a good cure for cabin fever.  Jonathan has some great links there for seed trading sites - I’ll have to peruse them myself, as I’ve not done any seed trading yet.  Warning: Jonathan’s enthusiasm for growing, trading, and germinating is very catching...!

Diane has nurtured babies with her hands, and now she nurtures the earth.  She allows volunteer heirloom tomatoes to come up at will, and fertilizes them with compost and manure from Tea Cup and Freckles, her new goats.....  and might I say she is a beautiful writer!

This year the garden will be expanding, as the family moves to eat more locally and self-sufficiently.  Corn and potatoes are moving in, and she’s hoping to plant some cold crop veggies beneath a hoop house as the days and nights get cooler.

Diane spent the last couple of weeks making compost and sourdough bread.  It’s interesting that she worked on these in the same week, as I’ve often felt they are very similar processes.  Both nurturing bacteria into breaking down nutrients into usable forms...  She’s waiting for asparagus crowns to arrive, and getting ready to start seeds.

Carmen is growing a Victory Garden.  Slowly she and her family are taking over their city plot, amending the soil, and planting food.  Last year they grew a number of things,  while adhering to a 100 mile diet.  This year they’ll be adding a plot for pumpkins, beans and blueberries.

They’ll plant food to fight global warming, to become less dependent on oil, to reduce incentive for wars based on oil, for better health, and for better flavor.... lots of great reasons to grow your own food.

Janet is from Northern California, and moved to the Pacific Northwest in the mid-90s.  I did the exact opposite.  So boy do I get the blog title:  there is a lot of rainy day gardening in the northwest.... you’d never have a garden if you didn’t don a raincoat and get out there in the thick of it! 

Growing edibles is near and dear to Janet’s heart, as she began gardening with her mother when she was four years old.  They raised their own meat, they grew their own vegetables, and she still can’t bear a store-bought tomato!  As soon as she could, she began growing organic vegetables for her own family.  This year she’s trying celeriac and parsnips for the first time, plus she’ll also try some jerusalem artichokes, and she’s planting a plum tree (the latter two are not from seed - call them a bonus for the challenge!).

Sarah Z is a neighbor, from here in Sonoma County.  Looks like we have a lot in common - I love the internet!  But boy does she have a head start on me:  she has already planted out seedlings of several cold climate crops. 

Inspired by Path to Freedom and their 100 Foot Diet Challenge, Sarah has decided to grow yacon and oca for the Growing Challenge.  She also planted horseradish over the weekend, and check out her fabulous vegetable markers!

Marc is growing Silverbeet Rainbow Swiss Chard, Violet Queen Purple Cauliflower, and potato onions for the Growing Challenge.  The purple cauliflower is inspired by Mike from Tiny Farm Blog (one of my favorite blogs) - I’m looking forward to that one, as I was curious myself after Mike’s post.  And potato onions should be quite interesting.  After reading Kenny’s post over at Veggie Gardening Tips, I was also curious.  And I’ve been interested in rainbow chard, too!  They are so beautiful.

Check out Marc’s great posts about heirloom tomatoes here and here.  Mouthwatering! Loads of great info, too.

LocalEating.ca

Still covered in snow, Tanny’s Toronto garden won’t be cooking for a while yet.  But hopefully she’ll live a little vicariously as she watches the warm Australian summer gardens at the peak of their production, and the southern U.S. beginning to wake up to signs of spring.

With a lot of time left to plan, Tanny is thinking about some heritage vegetables for the Challenge.  She has a great local source for seeds at a gardening fair coming up.  Wow, I wish we had one here!  It will be interesting to follow Tanny’s garden as she begins to supplement her 100 mile diet with home grown food.

Tom has just bought a house and never gardened before.  He couldn’t wait until spring to begin planting his garden, so he decided to set up a hydroponic system in his basement.  There he’s growing squash, bell peppers, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchinis, and watermelon - all for the first time.  Started just one month ago, Tom’s blog catalogues the trials and tribulations of his new hydroponic garden.

So far all seem to be doing well but the bell pepper... which is presumed dead.  Bummer.  The diversity of our gardens is astounding - I’m glad Tom has joined us!

Down in Southern California Shawna is busy busy busy with her garden already!  Inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, she planted asparagus for the first time, along with Italian parsley and peas.

Like us in the North, Shawna had a week of rain last week, but that didn’t stop her from planting several rows of carrots and sunflowers.  I love that she planted carrots here and there and everywhere, for little surprises in a few months!

Does gardening help to re-inspire your meals?  It certainly does for Shawna, and for Matt and I, too.

There is another Victory Garden growing in New York!  Lissa is a member of Pattie’s Take 5 team.  Renewed by a visit to Texas and Georgia, she’s ever-so-patiently patiently waiting for Spring in Saratoga.  In the meantime, she picked up supplies for growing sprouts, something that can be grown year-round no matter where you live. 

Lissa has a great Clementine Crate System for starting seeds, and plans to start in mid-March.  With her compost already set, she’s longingly eyeing her seed packets, planning her garden, and dreaming about the wonderful garden goodies that will help her become more self-sufficient. 

I do believe Tina is another Sonoma County neighbor - am I right, Tina?  And not only that, but she works in a nursery... so I’m sure she is full of great advice for all you new gardeners - go check out her blog! 

Tina had an amazing garden... until life - and, more importantly, kids - consumed her time.  But now, she’s determined to re-take her garden!   She’s planning to turn her yard into a backyard orchard.  Sounds beautiful.

This weekend she ordered seeds of Red Noodle Yard Long Asparagus Bean (long beans deserve a long name I guess!) and Sunset Runner Beans, which look beautiful.  Welcome back to your garden, Tina!  And welcome from a fellow Norther Californian - I’ll have to stop into the nursery when I’m down that way.

Summer is planning to step it up this year.  Last year she used seedlings from the nursery for just about all their crops.  This year almost everything will be from seed, including tomatoes and bell peppers with saved from last year’s crop.  In the repertoire:  bush beans, soy beans, eggplant, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, bok choy, winter squashes, green onions/scallions, Walla Walla onions, and potatoes. 

Do check out Summer’s beautiful photos of last year’s garden - including a scrumptious pepper photo.

Last year the squirrels ate her squash (see fabulous photo to above)!  Summer, have you found a cure for the squirrels, or will you just plant some squash for everyone?

Wow, what a beautiful location for a garden.  Earth Heart lives in Northeastern Ohio, living a “simple, frugal, peaceful and conscientious lifestyle.”  She’s hoping to spend more time noticing the day to day changes in her garden this year.  Sounds wonderful.

Earth Heart has ordered all heirloom seeds for her 2008 garden, and will soon be starting seeds indoors.

Those twirling cds around the garden?  Apparently they deter deer from nibbling the greens and sunflowers.

GreenArtz.com

Seedlings are taking over Julie’s basement - look out!  Julie is doing her darndest to turn her “backyard landscape into a hotbed of food production.”  She’ll be using only heirloom seed as a part of the challenge, including asparagus - I’m looking forward to seeing that process as I’ve heard it’s not easy. 

Julie’s husband built a great growing rack - it sounds sturdy yet inexpensive.  There, growing happily, are basil, chives, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, watercress and sorrel.  Her goal is to have baby greens before St. Patrick’s Day.  Yum.  She also reports her sweet peas are growing strong, despite a little accident with the heating mats.

We have some other new members, who I’ll be visiting next week:

1. Danielle, Savor Culture
   

2. TheCrone, The Crone At Wits End
   

3. Melanie, Old Country Gardens
   

4. Top Veg, Top Veg
   

It's not too late to join us. 

You can join us at any time, though the sooner the better of course.  Just send an email or leave a comment when you decide.  I'll continue to update the list as more people join the challenge.

Spread the word, let’s grow our own food!

http://web.mac.com/elementsintime/creatinglandscape/Grow_Challenge.html