Welcome to a new #greenestthumb challenge week!

Last week three Steem-gardeners joined the contest sharing stories and their passion for growing our vegetable friends.

So, let's see what they have submitted this week, in time order.

Hatch Chiles That Bloom In October (in Denver!)

This year @phoenixwren decided it was time to grow her own hatch chiles on the balcony. The plant was so happy to grow in the middle of the busy city life that forgot to blossom in due time. Only when it felt the falling temperatures, in October, it remembered its duty and produced several beautiful flowers. Luckily its gardener is patient and caring: before it got too cold outside, she brought it in and is now enjoying a warm home while outside is snowing. We really wish you that you could prepare your enchiladas before Christmas time! Keep us posted!

Snake Gourd- Or Is It?

Did it ever happen to you to grow a plant not knowing which is? This happened to @mariannewest from California who, despite the uncertainty and the plant not showing intentions of producing fruits, did not give up and proceed to a manual impollination.
Her dedication has been rewarded by several fruits and a lot of not-yet-named seeds to plant next year (to create musical instruments too).

Shower-grown potatoes from Canada!

Can you leave potatoes germinating all winter long inside a shower and make a good harvest from them next season? @venomnymous shows us that is possible, planting their long eyes horizontally in a raised bed. His experiment gave birth to gorgeous plants and provided food for many many lunches. Successful experiment!

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In witness of your love for gardening, it is now my pleasure to proclaim...

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...that the winner is...

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@mariannewest wins the first prize this week for her beautiful, very detailed, post and for her dedication in gardening.
Her post shows a great awareness of what gardening is: a learning process, that even when not fullfilling all of our expectations, even when we can not name what we are growing, always enriches us with knowledge and new skills. The gardener is always looking forward: what is learned this season will give fruit the next one. Congratulations @mariannewest!

There is no need to proclaim a second or a third winner: @phoenixwren and @venomnymous get the same reward and you all show a great care for plants and share a great vegetable story.

As the post generated 6.662 SBD, I sent to @mariannewest 50% and 25% to @phoenixwren and @venomnymous each.

Congratulations Steem-gardeners and thank you for joining last week - we could LEARN so many valuable things from your posts: how much sun do chiles need, how peroxide can avoid gourds from developing fungi, how germinated potatoes can produce well next year.

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...TIME FOR WEEK 4!

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According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a green thumb is:

the ability to make plants grow and be healthy

I can't wait to read new amazing stories of plants growing and see new GREENEST THUMB pictures. So, here are the rules for week 4 (same as week 3).

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Rules

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• Post one or more pictures showing your ability to make plants grow and be healthy, between now and the post payout time (in 7 days)
• You can either post your picture in the comments below or write a post about it. If you write a post, tag it #greenestthumb so I can find it.
• I'll select a first-prize winner who will get 50% of the SBD generated by this post, the second and third runners-up will get 25% each.
• Upvote and resteem this post (most of the former participants already did last week and I thank you for that). This will help the challenge growing bigger and self-sustainable. Furthermore, it will make the prizes bigger!
• By entering the contest, you give me permission to use your pictures in the next post where I'll be announcing the winners.

Happy gardening and see you next week for the winners of THE GREENEST THUMB CHALLENGE #4!