After months of gardening alongside each other, it all comes down to this moment…  the announcement of the final winners of the 2021 Yates Vegie Growing Challenge.

It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make as everyone has made a wonderful contribution making it such a fabulous community to be a part of.    After a lot of deliberation, the winners were selected.     

Please join me in congratulating the following gardeners.

The three gardeners for the main prize were:

·       Jen (Jen)

·       Stacey (Stacey170)

·       Heather (Gardening with the Dillions)

Their dedication to the challenge with their prolific updates were inspiring and it was also great to see them encouraging and supportive comments under everyone’s posts. 

The Best Starting Out Gardener went to:

·       Michelle (Homestead mama)

In this category we were looking for an enthusiastic gardener who is new to gardening or discovered gardening during a lockdown or someone who is a bit rusty because they haven’t gardened for a very long time or someone with more passion than experience.    While not a complete novice we could see Michelle had plenty of passion but was humble in her willingness to learn.  She did have her fair share of successes along the way, and her cabbage is something most of us were quite envious of! 

Best Vegie Growing Challenge Supporter, in honour of Carol Oates went to:

·       Ruth (ruGrew) 

In this category we were looking for a gardener who encourages other gardeners, has great top tips and is a friendly and supportive presence in the Yates Vegie Growing Challenge.  For those who never met her, Carol was the greatest fan of the Vegie Growing Challenge.  She was with me as an entrant in the very first challenge back and 2010 and we gardened together virtually in every challenge since.  She was often the first and last to post a blog in each challenge sharing the ups and downs in her townhouse garden with an increasingly bigger garden and shrinking lawn, but it was her comments that epitomised the spirit of the community with tips and hints for the garden or the challenge in general that spread joy throughout the challenge.  Sadly, Carol passed away a week before the start of the 2020 Vegie Growing Challenge and has been greatly missed. 

It seems fitting that Ruth is seen to be bringing the same kind of joy with her lovely updates and comments sprinkled across the challenge, as she was one of the fortunate gardeners to garden alongside Carol in the past.

Last but not least the Wild Card Winner went to:

·       Levina (Luvy)

This prize could have been anyone who stands out to the Team at Yates and could be a steady weekly blog poster, or an enthusiastic kid, or someone who overcame a challenge during the growing season and carried on anyway, or for any other reason where we see a keen gardener doing good things.     This season Luvy was this gardener – plodding along with regular updates, tenaciously removing a mountain of rocks from her garden, but also embarking on an exciting adventure to turn her garden into a market garden.  You could see her hard work in her posts but also caught her sense of excitement and couldn’t help but wish her all the success. 

I’m sure you will agree, the Yates team have picked worthy winners. 

I also I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for choosing to join in with the Vegie Growing Challenge this year.  Even though I’m not eligible to enter or win any of the great prizes, I do feel like I’ve won.  I have met wonderful people; I have been inspired and encouraged and now my garden is full of produce.   I would be completely lost with this fabulous community in my spring.

And a reminder for you all that the Growing Community page will remain open for updates and comments, so feel free to pop back with updates from time to time so we can see the fruits of all the hard work you have put in up to this point.

And in my garden – the rain has stopped, and I will venture out for the first time in days to see how it fared…  I suspect I’ll need plenty of Yates Nature's Way Fungus Spray.

On behalf of myself and the team at Yates we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Bountiful New Year. 

Cheers Sarah  : o)