Welcome!  I thought it was time to gather together and learn to grow more food.  So, in tandem with my Gardening 101 series, I am proposing The Growing Challenge. The idea is to have fun, learn from one another, and build a supportive community of food gardeners!  You can start the challenge at any time, but the sooner the better of course!

Here are the Rules of The Growing Challenge:

1. 1. For this challenge, you must grow one additional type of fruit or vegetable than you did last year, and grow it from seed.  If you’ve never grown anything, well, grow one thing!  Or if you’ve never grown beans or carrots or lettuce or strawberries, try one of those....  And if you don’t have a garden, you can grow it in a pot or on a window sill - see Gardening 101:  Ordering Seeds for links about how.  The goal is to push ourselves to grow a little more food than we have before.
   

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3. 2.  If rule #1 is not enough of a challenge for you, you may make your own rules.  For example, I’m going to grow two fruits and three veggies more than I did last year.
   

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5. 3.  You must post about gardening once each week.  This could be a post about researching different plants, ordering seeds, buying pots, digging beds, planting the seeds, pruning, adding compost, all the way to preparing a meal that includes the food you grew.  **Please include “Growing Challenge” in the name of the posts - and/or have a Growing Challenge tag in your sidebar - so I can find them!**
   

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7. 4.  Every week I will go to every participant’s website and check out what you’ve written, and write a summary on this blog. This will be a great way to see what everyone is up to and learn from one another. If you don’t have a blog, you can email me a blurb about your gardening progress. 
   

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9. 5.  Let me know in the comment section of the first Growing Challenge post (click here) if you’re joining in the fun!
   

1. 6.  **New rule:  When signing up, make sure to include your zone and where you’re located.**   Visit the Week #6 post for information about how to find your zone.
   

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4. And if you ever have questions or anything else comes up, please email me!
   

Growing List of Participants (as of 4.26.08, 3pm PST)

1. 1. LimeSarah,  Suburban Entwife
   

2. 2. Tameson O’Brien,  Tameson’s Musing
   

3. 3. Green Bean,  Green Bean Dreams
   

4. 4. Simply Belinda, Belinda’s Place
   

5. 5. Laura, Urban Hennery
   

6. 6. Melissa, who will be emailing me updates
   

7. 7. Ali, Our Patch
   

8. 8. Lisa, The Tin House
   

9. 9. Idaho Locavore, Simply Local Idaho
   

10. 10. Sweets, Sweet Southern Knits
    

11. 11. The Happy Housewife, The Lucky G
    

12. 12. Tracy, Sunny Corner Farm
    

13. 13. Jayedee, Life in the Lost World...
    

14. 14. Leanne, At the Good Life
    

15. 15. Ellen, Ellen’s Grind
    

16. 16. Ivy, Shakadoo
    

17. 17. Rejin, Urban Botany
    

18. 18. Meg, Future House Farm
    

19. 19. Emily, Eat Close to Home
    

20. 20. Kimberly, Sunshine Alternative Mama
    

21. 21. Pattie, FoodShed Planet
    

22. 22. Kerry, Wicked Flavory
    

23. 23. Farm Mom, Children In The Corn
    

24. 24. Rebecca, Sticks and Stones
    

25. 25. TamaraC, who will be emailing me updates
    

26. 26. Kory, Kicking and Screaming
    

27. 27. dancingfatcat, who will be emailing me updates
    

28. 28. Jenny, Seeded
    

29. 29. Diana, Thane’s Neck Farm
    

30. 30. The Forge Village Farmer, The Edible Landscape Project
    

31. 31. Sarah Gilbert, Cafe Mama
    

32. 32. Lisa, Natural Gardening
    

33. 33. Lori (my sister!), Life in Webster Groves
    

34. 34. Mel, Green Gringa
    

35. 35. Hannah, The Purloined Letter
    

36. 36. SegoLily, Rock Creek Farm
    

37. 37. Andrea, Heavy Petal
    

38. 38. Teacher A, Teacher Anonymous
    

39. 39. Emma, Fluffius Muppetus
    

40. 40. Craig, Harvistry
    

41. 41. Tracey, Life in Sugar Hollow
    

42. 42. Kristi, Not So Crafty
    

43. 43. Curtis, Growing Thumbs
    

44. 44. Anthony, The Compost Bin
    

45. 45. Late Bloomer, Soccer Moms and Single Chicks
    

46. 46. Gina, My Skinny Garden
    

47. 47. The Cheap Vegetable Gardener
    

48. 48. Neil Pedersen, Petrogy
    

49. 49. Dave, The Home Garden
    

50. 50. Kate, Hills and Plains Seedsavers
    

51. 51. Susan Harris, GardenRant
    

52. 52. Christina, A Thinking Stomach
    

53. 53. Jen, Aaron ‘N Jen
    

54. 54. Maltagirl, Shenanigans
    

55. 55. Daharja, Cluttercut
    

56. 56. Shibaguyz, Life with the Shibaguyz
    

57. 57. Jonathan, Votiso’s World
    

58. 58. Doug, SeedTraderDug
    

59. 59. Diane, Peaceful Acres
    

60. 60. Danielle, Savor Culture
    

61. 61. Carmen, Who Me?  The Adventures of Hippy Goodwife
    

62. 62. Janet, Rainy Day Gardening
    

63. 63. Sarah Z, Ward Road Garden
    

64. 64. Mark, Garden Desk
    

65. 65. Tanny, LocalEating.ca
    

66. 66. Tom, My Simple Home Garden
    

67. 67. Shawna, This Is Me
    

68. 68. Colleen, In the Garden Online
    

69. 69. Lissa, Slender Branches, Reaching Upward
    

70. 70. Tina, Taming The Garden
    

71. 71. Summer, The Tao Of Summer
    

72. 72. Earth Heart, From My Homestead
    

73. 73. Julie Artz, GreenArtz.com
    

74. 74. Lara, The Crone At Wits End
    

75. 75. Melanie, Old Country Gardens
    

76. 76. Top Veg, Top Veg
    

77. 77. Jocele, Knitting On Call
    

78. 78. Kate, Inner City Garden
    

79. 79. PumpkinPatch
    

80. 80. Vickie, In The Acorn
    

81. 81. Angelina, Dustpan Alley
    

82. 82. Hatchet, Woman With A Hatchet
    

83. 83. Can I Eat It?
    

84. 84. Graziana, Erbe En Cucina
    

85. 85. Lisa, The Tardy Homemaker
    

86. 86. Ceara, Garden of Eatin’
    

87. 87. Britt, Britt’s News
    

88. 88. Kelly, My Garden Plot
    

89. 89. Colleen, These Daily Colors
    

90. 90. Ann Marie, Cheese Slave
    

91. 91. Deb G, Bee Creative
    

92. 92. Nathalie, CWM Goch Chronicles
    

93. 93. Jen C, A Garden Experiment
    

94. 94. Matt, The Geek Homesteader
    

95. 95. Liberty, Liberty’s Yarn
    

96. 96. Windyridge, Musings at Windyridge
    

97. 97. Melinda, Elements In Time
    

98. 98. Hannah, Swirlyness
    

99. 99. Kendra, A Sonoma Garden
    

100. 100. Carolyn, Waite for Carolyn
     

101. 101. Jinx, Hi-Jinx
     

102. 102. Sue, Dog’s Little Acre
     

103. 103. Naturewitch
     

104. 104. Kimberley, The Life of a Garden
     

105. 105. Renee, I’m In The Garden
     

106. 106. Christina, Coffee Coffee Coffee
     

107. 107. Mrs. Mecomber, New York Renovator
     

108. 108. A Frugal Life - Just The Two Of Us
     

109. 109. Aradiay6, who will be emailing me updates
     

110. 110. Erica, One Busy Mama
     

111. 111. Pete, Allotment 5 1/2
     

112. 112. Carla, Violet Lane
     

113. 113. Jen, What’s Your Name, Mommy?
     

114. 114. Allie, Allie’s Answers
     

115. 115. Jen, Craft Adventures of Stitch Chick
     

116. 116. Nature Deva
     

117. 117. Erikka, The_Extra_Ordinary
     

118. 118. Kim/Blackswampgirl, A Study In Contrasts
     

119. 119. Compostings
     

120. 120. Dig This Chick
     

121. 121. Rena, A Day In The Life... Whew!
     

122. 122. Steve Kirk, Making Perfect Sense
     

123. 123. Jayne, Our Great Southern Land
     

124. 124. Cia007, Whimsical Ponderings
     

125. 125. Katrina, What Katrina’s Up To At the Moment
     

126. 126. Suzan, Scrub Oak
     

127. 127. Hedgewitch, Earth And Tree
     

128. 128. Sacha
     

129. 129. Jimmy Cracked Corn
     

130. 130. Kate, Make-a-(Green)Plan
     

131. 131. SuzyQ, Squirrel Chatter
     

132. 132. Kate Has Roots, The Root
     

133. 133. Heather, As The Mood Swings
     

134. 134. Chicharon, ‘Dig’ The Earth
     

135. 135. JasonL, Primolicious
     

136. 136. Lesley, Lesley’s Gardening
     

Growing Posts

1. The Growing Challenge:  It’s Check In Time!  Come One, Come All!
   

2. The Growing Challenge:  This One Goes Up To One-Hundred and Eleven
   

3. The Growing Challenge:  Heat Wave in The South Poses Threat to Aussie Summer Gardeners... and more!
   

4. The Growing Challenge Week #8: Back in the Saddle
   

5. The Growing Challenge Week #7
   

6. The Growing Challenge Week #6 + A Two Second Assignment!
   

7. The Growing Challenge Week #5 (Part 3)
   

8. The Growing Challenge Week #5 (Part 2)
   

9. The Growing Challenge Week #5 (Part 1)
   

10. The Growing Challenge Week #3
    

11. The Growing Challenge Week #2
    

12. Planning My 2008 Garden
    

13. The Growing Challenge Kickoff
    

14. Growing Challenge is... Growing!
    

15. Sign Up Here!:  THE GROWING CHALLENGE