The Day of Reckoning

Well here it is. The day of reckoning. This morning I bounded out of bed and headed for the garden. Can I find 15 “fair worthy” green beans? YES! Now it is time to decide on the garlic. Do I go for size (Sicilian Artichoke) or tightness of wrapper and uniformity (Polish Hardneck)? Which pair would you choose? And then it was time to fetch and weigh Big Zack. His circumference this morning was 17 and 7/8 inches and he weighed in at 1 lb. 10 oz.

Big Zack

Then I trimmed up the beets and the shallots, fetched a few extra cherry tomatoes to use in case one dropped or split.And then I lined them all up on the stairs for their class photo before packing them into bushel baskets .

The Class of 2007

When I arrived I discovered that in my haste on Monday, I had failed to reserve a place for of all things Red Tomatoes. Grrrrr. But my disappointment was soon set aside as I greeted other vegetable enthusiasts. “How did you manage such lovely okra?” “Oh you would not believe. We use old black bait barrels and put them up against the south side of the house and cover them in black seaweed mulch.” Or “What lovely yellow wax beans.” “Thank you. There would have been more, but my father broke his leg last night.”

Now it is all in the hands of the judges. Should have a report by the end of the day.