And welcome to the 14^th annual Yates Spring Vegie Growing Challenge.  I am personally super excited about this – even though I’m not eligible for any of the fabulous prizes, I wouldn’t miss a season without being a part of this awesome community. 

I first stumbled across the very first Vegie Growing Challenge back in 2010 and although I didn’t win, the sense of community and the need to work in the garden in order to have something to post about made my garden the best it had ever been.  (I did go on to win the rare autumn one that they had in 2011).  I continued to participate noncompetitively because it was such a wonderful thing to be involved with throughout the spring months. 

Then one day back in 2014 I was invited to be a part of the team and help moderate things – I couldn’t have been happier – I get to indulge in all things gardening, chat with like minded keen gardeners and be a part of encouraging others through the ups and downs of a tumultuous growing season!  

While the challenge has changed a lot over the years – you used to have to get people to vote for you!  I’m glad that has gone, and so are my non gardening friends!  We’ve had crazy mini challenges and the old website was a tad temperamental.  The new website is not only a lot easier to use, but it means the community is able to continue to share updates all year long and we have had a wonderful group of gardeners keeping the community going this winter. 

If you are new here – I would like to personally welcome you.  It may seem a little overwhelming at first, especially as it seems like many people already know each other.  But that is one of the cool things about this community is people come back year after year – and a lot of the gardeners have been around a long time – because it is such a great place to be in the spring and wonderful friendships are made.  So, take a moment to have a look around, click on all the links and read all the things so you find out how to get the best out of the Vegie Growing Challenge not only to potentially win prizes but how it will enrich your gardening journey this season.

And to our old friends I want to say welcome back.  It is always good to see how your gardens are doing and I look forward to gardening alongside you virtually once again.  It might be a good idea for you to click on all the links and reacquaint yourselves with things so you too can get the best out of the Challenge.

This is the nicest competition, because it is quite informal in that you can share what is going on in your garden whenever you want to (so long as it is more than three times across the spring or not more than once a day unless something really exciting happens) and you can chat with the other gardeners and enjoy the lovely community.  It is like sharing to social media, but without bothering your non gardening friends and there is the chance to win fab prizes.   

I’ll be here every day, reading every post, ready to help out with technical problems – in the garden or in the challenge and I post an update once a week on a Monday  So if you want to reach out – just comment under my most recent post and I’ll help you out.  You can find my most recent post by clicking of the picture of me on the main community page.

Happy gardening and good luck.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)