A June 1 ripe tomato, the taste of victory is sweet

It has been a long time coming, but this tomato victory is one that I am going to enjoy.

My friend Mike might show up with a ripe tomato later today, but those who snooze lose as they say in the tomato race business.

Since I started the contest, I'm declaring myself victor.

This battle of the tomato growers started years ago, but the race was on this year with my April 3rd post announcing that my plants were in the ground.

I credit my victory to my superior cool weather tomato growing skills that were honed by years of coaxing tomatoes out of the rocky, cold soils of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

If the emails are to be believed, Mike even applied electric heat lamps in an attempt to derail my victory.

Unfortunately, Dean, my local competition, was reduced to planning for next year after he was caught unaware by a late frost.  My waterside tomato patch survived that with no problems.

There is nothing like living on salt water to keep the frost away and bring the tomato trophy home finally.

Now we'll have to see whether Mike is gonna pull a Hillary on me.  I may or may not reveal the variety that I used to win.