Yesterday afternoon, I was back at the fairgrounds, submitting some of my garden produce in the horticulture competition of my county fair. This is my first time submitting in this competition, and I spent a lot of time making sure I submitted my very best. I spent a couple hours in the garden, harvesting everything that was ripe. Then I chose the most perfect produce of each variety (or decided I didn’t have anything competition worthy). The judging takes place this morning (in time for the fair’s opening tonight), and I’ll find out tomorrow if I won any ribbons for my gardening skills. Meanwhile, here’s what I submitted.
HOME GROWN HERBS:
In the herb competition, I submitted one of the dill heads on my fernleaf dill that was growing in my squash/pumpkin bed. They put it in a tiny clear vase for the judging, and it looks wonderful.
Fernleaf dill head
FRESHLY HARVESTED VEGETABLES:
I took these pictures on one of my china plates, but the judges will be displaying my produce on clear plastic plates during the competition.
I didn’t think I had any lima beans ready, but I did find a handful of good ones.
Henderson lima beans
I was so happy to have both green and wax beans to submit.
Black Valentine beans
Beurre de Rocquencourt beans
I love these tiny red bell peppers. Aren’t they pretty?
Mini red bell peppers
I didn’t plan to enter my cubanelle peppers, but I had quite a few that were ripe – and these three that were very nice, indeed.
Cubanelle peppers
I waited all year to enter my pride and joy – my Peruvian lemon drop peppers.
Lemon drop peppers
Last week, I noticed I had an absolutely beautiful eggplant among the several growing. I kept checking it every day, hoping it would stay blemish free until the fair, and it did. Yes, eggplant in October.
Black Beauty eggplant
The judges will be handing out several additional awards along with first, second, and third place ribbons. I can’t wait to see how I did!
I also entered several jars of my home-canned produce in the canning competition. If you missed yesterday’s article, click here to see my entries.
If you missed the judging results, click here. If you don’t want to miss any more gardening news, just sign up on the right to receive new posts via email.
Have you entered any of your garden produce at your local fair?
Sanctuary Gardener 
I’m not familiar with the lemon drop peppers – are they hot?
Yes, they’re a chili pepper. It’s a Peruvian cultivar, and they have a lemony after taste. They’re awesome! I include them in my hot pepper jam and my hot pepper relish, and I dehydrate them for cooking. When it’s time to use them in a dish, I just crush the dehydrated peppers and add them to the pan. That’s how they’re used in Peru, too.
They grow very well here. This is my second year growing them. I put them in beds that get shade during the late afternoon when it’s the hottest; I figured they probably can’t take heat because they grow in the Andes mountains. So far, it’s working for me!
You should try growing them. I got my seed from Seed Savers.
Awesome information. I’m going to put them on my list for next season. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I like to share what I’m growing – what works & what doesn’t for this area.