Hello lovely gardeners

Well we are off to a great start and it has been great to see all your gardens, some for the first time and others as they have progressed since last time.  There are some amazing things going on but for me, most encouragingly the inspiration and motivation to get on and do what needs to be done in my garden. 

I’m loving seeing all the conversations you are having with each other as friendships are being made or renewed.  I really feel we have something special here in this community and that is without thinking about the prizes that are up for grabs.  

Now I want to just remind you of the first Mini Challenge. 

This still has 10 days to run so we aren’t in too much of a hurry but take some time to decide on who is your favourite gardener.  It could be because they a local to you, you just love what they are doing in their garden, or you seem to have found your gardening kindred spirit and you have just clicked with each other in the comments sections.  

One you know who your favourite gardener is load a blog post telling us who it is and why and click the Mini Challenge tick box when you load your blog so we know it is a post to be considered for this prize.   The prize is pretty cool - there are three sets up for grabs, but it isn’t just you who could win a set, but your favourite gardener gets one too.  For more details (including a photo of the prize) check out:  >What's Going On< 

To be into win this mini challenge posts need to be loaded by the 25^th September, so take some time to get to know all the gardeners, I know it won’t be easy as there are so many fabulous gardeners to choose from. 

Another cool thing we have going on is tomorrow I will randomly pick a gardener from last week and send them a pack of seeds from the new range of Yates seeds and they  have some pretty cool new veggies this season.  Going forward I will be picking a random gardener every Tuesday throughout the challenge, so that is something exciting to look forward too.   I’ll let you know who it was as an update on the “What’s Going On” box on the main community page so check there often for updates and announcements. 

My garden is coming along nicely.  I think I am more spring ready than I have ever been.  But for the most part that has been down to Hubby the Un-Gardener and the kids (teens) turning over the beds to add the compost etc.  It was always my plan to just add them to the surface at the end of the growing season but somehow winter got away on me and it never happened so now they have to do the work I wanted the worms to do in incorporating the organic material into the soil.   The thing is it takes them a 10^th of the time it would have taken me.  They sorted out 4 of my bigger beds yesterday and it took them less than half an hour! 

My seed sowing is progressing well.  I am staggering the sowing.  I know from experience pumpkins grow fast and if I had planted them on the first day of spring, by labour weekend I’d end up with massive plants in small pots trying to flower.  So, I will probably sow those seeds later this week.  But other things like tomatoes need a good head start and were sown a couple of weeks ago, but there will be time to sow spares if I need.  So far one variety hasn’t popped up, so I’ll probably need to chuck in more of those seeds. 

The 16^th of this month is 100 days to Christmas.  I only mention it because Jersey Benne Potatoes take 100 days and they are perfect for the Christmas table.  I will be planting potatoes this week too, but I won’t mention the C word again for ages. If you are looking for potato tips check out: >How to grow potatoes<

I hope you all have a fabulous week in your gardens, and I hope the weather is on our side as we continue to prepare for what I hope will be a great season.

Happy Gardening

Sarah the Gardener  : o)