Haymarket in flight, Afternoon delight...

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It's Friday morning. For the hardworking vendors at Haymarket, it's time set up the tents and card tables, make a fancy pyramid out of the tomatoes, and try out your most colorful insults for those who touch said tomatoes without permission.

If you've never been before, Haymarket is a string of stalls and booths stretching along Blackstone Street near Quincy Market on Fridays and Saturdays. Vendors come with a huge range of fruits and vegetables, everything from white asparagus to napa cabbage to papaya, all at unbelievable prices. Last weekend, for example, I bought boxes of rasberries for $1 each, 13 limes for $1, and 6 green peppers for $1. I didn't even need 6 green peppers. I just couldn't resist.

There's also a variety of other vendors with more permanent stalls, including butchers, fishmongers (yes, that's the word), and exotic grocers. Look for olives, nuts, fresh herbs, wonderful spices, and always, always, pita and bagels. My personal favorite is the cheese guy who is generous with samples if you smile nicely and show a sincere interest in his product. Thankfully, I am seriously interested in cheese.

You need to be aware that this is not an upscale, organic farmers' market. It's crowded and insane. The sellers here buy up a bunch of cheap, grocery-store quality produce which is just reaching peak ripeness when it gets to you, and some deals really are to good to be true. For that reason, be careful what you buy. Here are a few tips to get you through unscathed:

• It helps to arrive early, if you can manage it. The crowds will be more tolerable at 8am.
• If you can't arrive early, come late Saturday when the vendors are desparate to unload stuff. Try out your haggling skills and see if you can get that $6 watermelon for $2.
• When buying lettuce, spinach, and any other greens, plan to use them the day of.
• Potatoes, carrots, apples, and citrus are usually safe bets to last for awhile.
• Everything else, like cucumbers, berries, tomatoes, mushrooms... expect a slightly shorter shelf life than what you would buy at your regular grocery store.
• Bring canvas bags a backpack to carry your goods. Vendors will give you plastic bags, but this can make a tree-hugger feel dirty and those are hard to manage on the T.
• Don't touch anything unless the vendors give you permission. They will yell at you. Push up front, say, "I would like 2 lbs of plum tomatoes", and let them grab the goods for you. Sometimes the stuff up front is a carefully constructed display. But especially when shopping for tomatoes, check out what they give you, and make sure you weren't handed sub-par produce.
• Make a list of stuff you need ahead of time. Take a cursory sweep along the stalls before your first purchase to compare prices and general quality, and make sure you're getting a good deal. No one vendor will have everything you want at the best price. Usually the stalls towards either end are more expensive, and the stalls towards the center are more reasonable.
  
• Mind the seasons. Sometimes, they can't give the strawberries away fast enough. Sometimes there are none at all.
• I've never bought fish from the portable stalls. It looks like they keep it on ice, but you know, fish...

Be forwarned: Haymarket can smell putrid by the end of a hot August day.

Haymarket, Blackstone Street near Quincy Market on Fridays and Saturdays from about 7am to dusk.