Blue Ribbon Vegetable Gardening

Book excerpt: Win the blue ribbon every time! Master Gardener Jodi Torpey offers all the information you need to grow champion vegetables — beans, beets, cabbages, cucumbers, eggplants, onions, peppers, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes — covering everything from choosing the right varieties and scheduling planting dates to harvesting, preparing, and transporting your produce. She also walks you through every aspect of competitive showing, with useful tips for thinking like a judge. This book will delight you with lively photos of mammoth pumpkins, truly gigantic onions, perfectly pear-shaped eggplants, and the farmers and gardeners who grow them. Filled with the excitement of a county fair, it’s a fun read as well as a solid guide to growing the biggest, tastiest, best-looking vegetables for miles around.