nI should have known something was wrong when I woke up. I mean things were looking too good to be true. With only a week before the 4-H fair, my tomato plants have gorgeous red baseballs. nn I know what you're thinking.

Why should I, Julie-almost-in-fifth-grade-Johnson, give a hoot about tomatoes? I can throw further than anyone in the fourth grade. And only Jimmy Young beat me running.

Why worry about vegetables? nn Partly because my mom wanted me to. She said I should do something non-competitive. Then she laughed and said it might even have a calming effect on me. nn I laughed too.

But maybe she was just a little bit right. When I'm in the patch, I feel the dirt. I watch the bugs.

I pull weeds. Calm is not so bad. But Mom is wrong about one thing.

Gardening is competitive and I'm going to win. nn n nn nJulie discovers her prize tomatoes have been made into mush. She is certain her neighbor Stephanie has been making tomato sauce to keep Julie from winning at the fair. n n nn nDetermined to solve the mystery, she gets her brother Paul, her friend Jimmy Young, and her dog Apples to help. They set up a trap using bells on the tomato plants, and are ready to camp out all night to catch the tomato killer in the act.n n nn nJoin in on the fun as Julie gets to the bottom of the mystery of her mashed prize tomatoesn