The Compost Bin

I came across an interesting blogging meme the other day. No, it's not another 8 Random Things About Me or 10 Reasons Why I Like Monkeys or any of the other ridiculous things making their way around the blogosphere. It's actually something related to gardening. I saw it first at InTheGardenOnline. Colleen posted about how she was going to start growing Lemon Cucumbers and Sage. How is that a fun new blogging meme you ask? Well let me tell you.

She's growing them as part of the The Growing Challenge. The Growing Challenge was thought up by Melinda at Elements in Time as a way to get people growing more of their our own food. With a looming recession in the US and the high price of fuel driving up the cost of everything it's a great way to save some money and try something new. It's also a way to get people to eat more local food and that of course is great for the environment. Think of the airplane and truck fuel that would be saved if they didn't have to fly those pineapples to your neighborhood in the middle of winter.

As I read the details on her blog, I was sold. Here's the rules:

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. The goal is to push ourselves to grow a little more food than we have before.

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.

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” or at least “growing” in the name of the post so I can find it easily.**

4. Every Monday 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.

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