Garden Wars!!! (Week 8)
With a little help from Oscar the Grouch and his lovely daughter, last week Sarvay brought in his second victory of this epic competition. But who will take it this week? Your vote will help decide…
With a little help from Oscar the Grouch and his lovely daughter, Thea, last week Sarvay brought in his second victory of this epic competition — but just barely. Pharr was right there with him for a while, and Smartt… well, Smartt made some lovely gazpacho.
So this puts our standings at:
Sarvay: 2 (winning weeks 3 and 7)
Pharr: 2 (winning weeks 1 and 4)
Smartt: 3 (winning weeks 2, 5, and 6)
For those of you new to Garden Wars, here’s how it works:
John Sarvay (of Floricane and Buttermilk & Molasses), Ryan Smartt (of ConnectRichmond), and Scott Pharr (of PharrOut and RVANews) face off each week as they showcase images of their agricultural efforts, complete with clever(ish) captions. Then you, the readers, decide who wins. Whoever has won the most number of weeks out of the three-month run of this series will be treated to a meal by the losers.
Now, on to Garden Wars, Week 8, THE OCHO.
Sarvay
I don’t know why I plant green peppers, since I don’t cook with them. Apparently, our peppers don’t think much of me, either; it’s taken three months for this one to grow.
Literally every single semi-ripe tomato in our garden has had a huge bite taken out of it by squirrels in recent weeks. (Note to self: Sell the dog.) But our trusty garden gnome is zealously protecting our cucumbers, including a new batch of baby cukes springing forth.
We didn’t hand-pollinate, but Thea was so excited to pick zucchini this week. She paraded around the garden with them, while Nikole harvested more kale. Thea initially offered them to Rilo, but ended up in the kitchen with them, helping Nikole bake some delicious bread. (The four stages: Pollinate. Pick. Parade. Produce.)
Pharr
When you have over 75 squash/zucchini in one season, you bake it, fry it, eat it raw, but my most favorite? Grill ’em up!
Green Zebra Tomatoes. Need I say more?
This photo represents what each kid LOVES about the garden. Halle loves eating tomatoes right off the vine, and Kyla will take a bite right out of those cukes! (and did)
Smartt
A rare sight in Richmond of late. Not the eggplant itself, but the water on the eggplant. It actually fell from the sky in the form of rain.
Lyla starts each day by picking a basket full of basketballs and golf balls, then adds a basket full of spicy greens. Oddly enough, the latter tastes better than the former.
An experiment in deliciousness. My first attempt at making dill pickles out of four cucumbers we picked last week. I made up the recipe and would be happy to share…assuming these guys are a success…in a few weeks.
Cast your votes in the comments and tell us…
WHOSE GREENS REIGN SUPREME?!?!?!
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Oooh tough one for The Ocho…but gotta go with Sarvay…a man who doesn’t cook with green peppers but still plants them is in it for the long haul…doesn’t discriminate against vegetables.
pharr beacause omg what is a zebra tomato and where do i get one???
Pharr! Those zebra tomatos are awesome!
Pharr. Zuccs on the grill are my favorite, too!
I promised long ago that I would cast a vote for the first garden warrior to bust out a garden gnome. Sarvay has delivered!
Smartt gets my vote, but mostly out of sympathy for his wife. If Ryan is anything like my husband, she has been hearing about nothing but pickles since the whole process started.
Also: RAIN!
Pharr
I’m going with Sarvay again this week because of Nikole’s semi-Princess Leia look.
Pharr this week, for grill and tomato stripes. (Is Sarvay’s 4-shot collage cheating?)
I gotta go with Pharr, those green zebras are a bute! And it looks like the tomatoes in Halles hand are sun gold?
Pharr, mmm zebra tomatoes.
my vote goes to smartt for those dang pickles! mmm
Yep Shannon, those are! I think you need to be in Garden Wars next year… of course you’ll kick everyone’s butt! That tomato was massive.
@lindsey I got my plants from Shannon’s Nursery, which isn’t a real place that exists but isn’t a bad idea @Shannon.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE eating grilled zucchini and squash! I think those have to be the coolest tomatoes in all of GARDEN WARS. And …what can I say… my girls are TOO ADORABLE with their favorite veggies!!!! VOTING PHARR this week!!!!!
Smartt for the pickles, the rain-dropped eggplant, the hard-working daughter. I almost, almost went for Pharr just for those nice-looking tomatoes!
I fidgeted over the collage, Maggi, but since Scott did a twofer a while ago, I figured it was a safe roll of the dice. Jury?
We’ll allow it.
My vote is for Pharr…awesome tomatoes and yummy looking squash and zucchini on the grill! Oh, and super cute girls too :)
We love Pharr! Their garden is pharr out! :)
Pharr…b/c Halle is a girl after my own heart. I did the same growing up & still love to pick & eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine. And those green zebras are nice, my heirlooms had no such luck this year. :(
Shannon’s Nursery is taking heirloom orders for next year! I am in the process of saving seeds now so will have enough!
Thanks for linking to the pic of the tomato…we had 4 people eating off it and still had some left!! It was definitely huge!
I would love to give you boys a run for your money next year hahaha!
Voting Pharr without a doubt!!!! Love the garden and my nieces!!!
I’m voting for Smartt only because I was subjected to listen to a lengthy talk about pickles at a “so-called” guys nights night. Seriously. Baseball. Beer. Nachos. And my buddies talk about pickle recipes for an hour. Embarrassing.
I’ve got to vote for John Sarvay-well for his daughter Thea-and their four stages of gardening: “(The four stages: Pollinate. Pick. Parade. Produce.)” Okay, that zucchini bread gets my vote too.
Voting Pharr for grilling zucchinis, a favorite food of mine. But, those fellas got flipped over too soon. Dust with garlic powder and let’em caramelize.
Pharr for successfully breeding zebras with tomatoes. That deserves a Nobel Prize, people.
After careful consideration, I vote for SMARTT for venturing into the world of pickles. Good luck man.
I vote Smartt for getting that kid out of bed and heading her to the field every morning with a basket to fetch the days veggies.
Grilling veggies is the only way to go!!! Pharr’s!!!
Sarvay. That zucchini was the length of Thea’s arm and zucchini bread is a must.
In honor of Valerie Catrow, I vote Smartt. Ryan is all about pickles, pickles, pickles. You should have heard him the day he canned those things. He was like a hybrid of Martha Stewart and Lewis Black. (P.S. – Canning pickles requires boiling EVERYTHING to get them to vacuum seal…the jars, the juice, the tops.)
I vote Sarvay because he grows vegetables that his kid can use as a toy or a club!
Val, thanks for inspiring my wife to finally vote for me.
I like that Ryan and I canceled each other’s votes out – and that Scott is holding his vote in reserve. If he has a comfortable lead, he can appear very generous if he casts it late for one of us…
I love that the candidates have figured out that inserting cute children=more votes, and that they’re getting clever with the 3 photo rule (a la the collage here).
I vote Pharr because I like the composition of the grill shot and the zebra tomatoes.
Do we live in the most beautiful world, or what?
I vote Smartt b/c that eggplant photo is the most captivating example of the lovlies of our floating planet. Notice the leaves with just the right amount of purple to enhance the delicious richness of the velvety color of the fruit of the vine and the drops of water? Just amazingly enthralling.
Oh..excuse me..I am going to the farmers’s market to buy an eggplant right now.
Ryan grows the best and Lyla picks them beautifully. Smartt gets my vote!
Pharr…love me some grilled squash and zucchini. Don’t forget the food bank or your neighbors if you’ve got too many.
Sarvay
Smartt for the gorgeous eggplant shot, hardworking daughter, and my hope for a leftover jar of pickles (please?)
I sure wish someone would say something about *my* pickle. ::sniffling::
Sarvay gets my vote this week thanks to the trifecta of yard gnome, zucchini bread, and Rilo, the Bernese Mountain Beagle. Although I must give props to Smartt for tackling pickle production, and to Pharr for those amazing zebra tomatoes.
Voting for Pharr! Love his two adorable kids!
Pharr FTW!!!
Vegetables + grill = WIN. Pharr gets my vote.
I was witness to the making of Ryan’s pickles – he is indeed the Martha Stewart of Richmond. I vote Smartt!
And the winner is……PHARR. Good work, Scott. You’re back in action.
Tune in tomorrow for Week 9!