Initial Photos

Here they are, the pics you've all been yearning for... umm yeah.

Mike's Pics:

All Mike's pics are foggy, but at least they exist. Here's an overall shot showing the two plants.




Here's a closer view of plant #1. I call it Droopy .







And here we have plant #2, which might as well be plant #1. I can't tell the difference. Why try something new when you can have two equally dull plants?





At this point you may be saying to yourself, "OMGWTFBBQ!?!? A third plant? Mike's a filthy cheat and I hope he takes a permanent vacation to the firey pits of hell!". This is a perfectly normal reaction. However let me reassure you that this plant is of the cherry tomato variety and not subject to this contest.

So why is it being shown here? Well Mike wanted to include it and after looking at his other two plants I think it's easily apparent why this is.







Zeina's pics:

Here is Zeina's nice clear vibrant side by side shot. Notice all the nice green foliage. Too bad it's not actually in the pots.






Here's the close up of plant #1. Yes it's rather pathetic looking. This is because Zeina takes this contest very seriously. This isn't merely a friendly fist fight, this is all out war. Therefore what you see before you is an example of trench warfare er... umm... trench planting.








Just in case the fancy technique of plant #1 doesn't come to fruition, plant #2 uses a more traditional approach of dig a hole and shove it in. So far it's prettier.











So that wraps up week 1 of the contest. So far the clear winner are Mike's cherry tomatoes which has to be rather depressing for both contestants. Will the plants survive to week 2? Does anyone actually care? I guess we'll find out.

A Poor Update

I had hoped to have some pictures of tiny green things, smothered in soil, struggling to survive. Photos shall be coming forthwith in the next post.

Zeina's pots are officially planted as of tonight. This fact I have seen with my own eyes and I guarantee everyone shall see this tomorrow. Mike however is another story. He alleges to having potted the plants yesterday, proudly claiming a one day lead on Zeina. However, he also stated that I would have photos to post here tonight, yet said photos have not materialized.

When queried as to why this event had not taken place he stated that it was, "raining outside" which to his credit was true. Of course it was also 9pm and just started raining when I asked him. The sun does not set here until 9pm so apparently he couldn't find a single minute in that abundance of sunlight to snap a single photograph. When I pressed as to how that could have happened, he muttered "class and such". Though his last class starts at 6pm and I can tell you it does not span a length of three hours. It is possible he didn't find the time to take the photo due to his schedule being wrought with verbally assaulting me.

As I know Mike personally, I can testify to the likeliness of the prior theory being not as conceivable as the feasibility of his failure being due to sheer laziness. I need to devise some sort of castigation to prevent this sin from hindering further updates...

The goods

Each person is starting with the same items. Per person they are:

Two tomato plants of the "Better Boy" variety, whatever that means.

They're stylish, they're gray, they're.. plastic. They're pots. 0.71 cu. ft. or 18 qu.

And lastly the cream of the crop, the Miracle Grow™ potting mix. Because anything else is just dirt.

It is with these weapons our combatants enter the arena. Anything else is allowed from here on out. Whomever grows the better tomato (by whatever criteria we establish later) shall prove to be the greater warrior, er... gardener.

How it all began

So Mike, Zeina, and I were having lunch at our favorite (and the only) crepery in town, and Mike noticed for the 1 hundreth time that I don't like tomatoes. So he and Zeina started talking about how much they love tomatoes. Mike recalled how he used to love to grow his own as they're much better than store variety. So Zeina said she felt like growing her own tomatoes and Mike said he did as well, so Zeina said "Oh, we should have a contest!". Mike agreed, mentioning how he was going to completely school Zeina, and I said I should make a blog as this was the best idea I could come up with for a blog. We later agreed that the loser of the contest must cook a dinner of the winner's choosing using the winner's tomatoes. So in the end everyone will be a winner... except for the guy who hates tomatoes.

First Post

The Challenge
Who can grow the better tomato. More coming soon.