Garden Detective

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I just returned from hosting The Great Long Island Tomato Challenge Weigh-Off here at Newsday's headquarters in Melville.

Back in June, I ran a column about a man named Matthew Barcia, who believed he would grow the biggest tomato on Long Island. He had educated himself about special techniques and researched new varieties and soil amendments. While Barcia certainly knew his way around a tomato, I knew there must be others like him. So I challenged my readers to join the race for the heaviest tomato.

All summer long, I've been on the lookout for the biggest and the baddest fruit, traipsing around the Island like an obstetrician on call, scale in tow. Contestants called at all hours, panic in their voices, crying, "You have to come NOW! My tomato is ready to be picked!"

When it became apparent there were more tomatoes on Long Island than hours in a day, I decided it would make more sense for them to come to me. And Newsday readers did not disappoint.

Gardeners came from all over Long Island -- tomatoes in tow -- to share ideas, talk about their favorite varieties and, most importantly, have their tomatoes weighed.

Guy Macchia, from Middle Island, who grows tomatoes in a 5-inch-wide strip of earth separating his condo unit from the one next door, entered a 13 ounce Beefsteak. Peter Lofrano of Shirley brought a 15 ounce beauty, while Michael Vecchio, of Old Westbury, entered an impressive Beefsteak that weighed in at 1 pound, 15 ounces. From Port Jefferson Station, John Salvador's Bull's Heart weighed 2 pounds, 2 ounces, and Ed Mitchell of Ronkonkoma showed off his 1 pound, 5 ounce Beefsteak.

And there were others: Janet Hart of Lindenhurst had a 14 ounce Big Boy. John Brady's young grandson Mikey, from Levittown, brought his grandfather's yummy looking 6 ounce piece of perfection, and Patrick Castle traveled from Deer Park with his 2 pound, 7 ounce Porterhouse Beefsteak.

Others came without tomatoes, just to share ideas with like-minded growers and to get an eyeful of the winning entry.

And what an eyeful it was! Vincenzo Domingo's "Ugly" tomato struck fear in the hearts of everyone in the room. Ooos and ahhs erupted as Domingo approached the podium -- seemingly in slow motion -- to set his tomato upon the scale.

I first learned of Domingo's green thumb when I received an email from his daughter, Lucy Scheck, earlier this summer. She wrote:

I would like to enter my father as a competitor to challenge Matthew Barcia. His name is Vincenzo Domingo. He is 78 years old, lives in Deer Park, and he does not own a computer; that is why I am sending this for him. He was born in Sicily and came to this country when he was in his early twenties. Since he's been in this country, he has grown all types of tomatoes, along with various vegetables, fruits, etc. As of last year, his largest beefsteak tomato was 3 1/4 pounds; his largest banana tomato was 1 pound. When necessary, the only chemical he uses is sulphur. He does not use wire cages. He ties his tomato plants the old fashioned way -- with sticks and twine.

My father has always been proud of his garden and I would like to see him "Challenge the Expert".

I visited with Domingo, who just turned 79, at his Deer Park home earlier this week, and that Ugly tomato was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Misshapen and malformed, like a real tomato should be, it was grown from seeds sent to Domingo by his brother in Sicily.

Its weight? Three pounds, 14 ounces. I've heard of premature babies smaller than that! It was larger than a human head. Domingo brought that tomato and a few others to the Weigh-Off Friday night and was crowned winner on the spot.

Matthew Barcia did well for himself, too. While not a frontrunner -- his Belgian Giant weighed in at 1 pound, 9 ounces -- it was his story that started it all.

So, Long Island tomato growers, you'd better get working on a strategy now, because we're going to do this all again next year. And something tells me Domingo will give you another run for your money.

CLICK TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

Larry Goldstein of Plainview is enjoying one heck of a harvest this year. The retired high school shop teacher, who built most of the furniture in the house he shares with his wife, Sandy, also constructed quite an impressive vegetable garden.

He's growing Mortgage Lifters, Delicious, Bloody Butchers, various Beefsteak varieties, Cherries and Camparis -- a total of 48 plants -- in soil treated only with composted manure. Goldstein starts all his plants from seed and swears by the red plastic mulch he orders online, as it keeps the weeds out and roots warm.

When I visited with Goldstein last week, he picked the largest fruit in his tomato patch -- a Bloody Butcher weighing in at 1 lb., 12 oz.

"I don't prune, pinch off or do anything to my plants -- They do just fine without me interfering with them," he said when asked about his methods, adding, "It works for me."

After our visit, Goldstein sent me on my way with a care package containing my very own Bloody Butcher. It works for me, too.

When Lucy Scheck emailed me earlier this summer, she said her father grows big tomatoes. I had received 75 emails just like it from gardeners across Long Island, so while I was impressed, I had no reason to believe his tomatoes were any different.

Scheck's father, Vincenzo Domingo, 78, lives in Deer Park with his wife, Rosa. "He does not own a computer," Scheck explained. "That is why I am sending this for him."

"He was born in Sicily and came to this country when he was in his early twenties," she wrote. "Since he's been in this country, he has grown all types of tomatoes, along with various vegetables and fruits. My father has always been proud of his garden. Last year, his largest beefsteak tomato was 3 1/4 pounds."

Come again? Rewind, please...

"Last year, his largest beefsteak tomato was 3 1/4 pounds."

THAT got my attention. What does a man who can grow a 3 1/4 tomato do to his soil? What's his secret?

The only treatment he uses is sulphur, Scheck said. And he only applies it when he feels it's necessary. Domingo doesn't use wire cages for support, either. Instead, he ties his tomato plants the old fashioned way -- with sticks and twine.

I'm running out to meet Domingo in person and see if his green thumb has produced an attention-getting tomato this year. Can lightning strike twice?

I'll let you know what I discover.

Paul Nardone, left, grows 254 tomato plants in his Massapequa garden, while Guy Macchia, right, makes do with a 5-inch-wide "strip of dirt."

Does (plot) size really matter?

Paul Nardone of Massapequa is growing 254 tomato plants in 7 beds totaling about 850 square feet. He grows enough fruit to keep all his neighbors and friends in tomatoes throughout the season. And every week, he sends care packages containing Big Boys, Porterhouse Beefsteaks, Roma plums and cherry tomatoes to relatives in New Jersey, the Bronx, Mahopac, Brooklyn and Oceanside via U.P.S. He even sent a case to a certain garden columnist, who shall remain nameless. "My garden is a sea of red with all the tomatoes that I have to pick every day," he says.

Where there's a will, there's a tomato

Meanwhile, all Guy Macchia has is a "strip of dirt" separating his Middle Island condo unit from the one next door. His garden is 18 feet long but only 5 inches wide. No matter, according to Macchia, who makes do very nicely but not without some innovation. "I have to angle the plants because I can't plant them straight down" he says, explaining that a fence dissects his five-inch-wide plot.

Since there's no room for tomato cages, Macchia fashions stakes from wood sticks inserted in cement-filled buckets, above. He sets each contraption up against a plant and fastens them together. He also ties some plants directly to the fence.

I've never encountered such inventiveness in a vegetable garden! My hat's off to him for his sheer determination and creativity.

No doubt, Nardone, whose garden is pictured below, will have a bigger output. But who will grow the bigger tomato? Your guess is as good as any. I'll report developments as they ripen.

Photo by Larry Goldstein

Thank you all for responding with interest to my call for gardeners across Long Island to join the Great Long Island Tomato Challenge. What a wonderful success it has been so far, with readers from the Queens line to Riverhead and beyond enjoying the competition. I have read each of your emails, many of which were touching, some funny, and certainly all of them intriguing. I would like to give all of you the opportunity to participate in the competition and share in the fun.

If you can't bring the Garden Detective to the tomatoes, bring the tomatoes to the Garden Detective

Please bring your largest, heaviest tomato to Newsday's Melville offices on Friday, August 31 at 7 p.m. I'll be on hand to weigh each fruit personally in my quest to find Long Island's most impressive tomato. Photographers will be on hand, and light refreshments will be served.

Winner gets a handshake, my admiration and their story and picture in an upcoming issue of Newsday.

Please RSVPto let me know you're coming so that I can prepare accordingly. I look forward to meeting you!

Newsday's offices are located at 235 Pinelawn Road in Melville. Look for the red balloons!

From the west:

Take the LIE to exit 49S (RT-110 S/Amityville)
Merge onto S Service Rd and proceed to Pinelawn Road
Turn right on Pinelawn Rd (CR-3 S)
Newsday is approximately 1.2 miles down on the right, past the Eastern Athletic Club fitness center

From the east:

Long Island Expressway to Exit 49S
Merge onto N Service Rd.
Turn left at Pinelawn Rd.
Newsday is approximately 1.3 miles down on the right, past the Eastern Athletic Club fitness center

I'll be making an encore appearance on World Talk Radio's Arbor Talk show today at 1:25 p.m. Tune in and listen as I talk tomatoes with hosts Peter Felix and Ken Six.

Listen online

Miss it? Now worries, you can listen to the show on the Arbor Talk archives. Check out segment 2 and 3 from today's broadcast.

Did you grow a whopper of a tomato? I'll be wrapping up the Great Long Island Tomato Challenge at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, with the Great Weigh-In event at Newsday's Melville headquarters. Bring your biggest tomato and details about your growing methods. Winner gets to be featured in a future Newsday article.

RSVP

Today's lesson: Don't count your tomatoes before they develop

Karen Vati's Massapequa Park tomato garden is the most orderly and tidy vegetable patch I've ever seen, hands down. Tomato plants stand like soldiers at boot camp, neatly tied to perfectly erect homemade bamboo teepees in raised beds.

Vati purchased her plants this spring at N&V Garden Center in North Massapequa, just like she always does. She was counting on her Beefsteak tomatoes, which had been huge in years past, to make her a winner.

But then something unusual happened. As Vati and her family watched the fruit develop, they had the sinking feeling something wasn't right. These weren't the humongous Beefsteaks the Vatis had grown accustomed to. These were perfectly round and smooth, quite unlike the ribbed, sometimes oddly shaped fruits of seasons gone by. "They look like Hothouse tomatoes," Vati's sharp-eyed daughter, Marisa, 18, observed. "Maybe the plant tags got mixed-up," Vati suggested.

I visited the Vatis yesterday for an official weighing of their largest tomato.
My findings? A nice-sized fruit of 1 pound, 2 ounces. While not necessarily noteworthy for a Beefsteak, it certainly would be impressive for a Hothouse. Maybe even a record-breaker.

Garden Detective is up for a Best Hobby Blog Blogger's Choice Award. Have you voted? You'll get good karma if you take a minute to CLICK HERE and help send me to Vegas, where I hear they have machines with little cherry tomatoes on them.

I took a couple of field trips this week, making house calls to Matthew Ippolito's garden in Selden (left, top) and to Uresh Sheth's place in Syosset (left, bottom).

Armed with my humble SONY 2.0 Cyber-shot camera and a $9.99 scale I purchased at Bed, Bath & Beyond en route to Ippolito's house on Friday, I visited, weighed and recorded my findings. And what I found was pretty impressive, indeed.

Ippolito's Mortgage Lifter plant, pictured below, sported two plump beauties ripe for the picking. The larger one, which he is seen picking above, weighed in at 1 pound, 13 ounces. (Full disclosure: He graciously shared the non-contender with me, which my daughter Julia and I enjoyed with a salt shaker a few days later. My impartiality, however, remains unshaken, as is evidenced by the next sentence.)

Sheth edged him out with his 1 pound, 15 ounce Burpee Beefsteak, which he picked in my presence on Monday.

Others are lining up to be weighed, and contestants are calling and sending frantic emails at all hours beckoning, "My tomato is ripe and needs to be picked! Please come quick!"

Luckily, tomatoes are best picked a couple of days after reaching full ripeness, so there's no cause for panic.

Results will be tallied and posted here over the next few weeks, so stay tuned! AND, don't forget to vote for Garden Detective in the race for Best Hobby Blog by clicking the icon at left.

I'll be the featured segment guest on World Talk Radio's Arbor Talk show today at 1:50 p.m. Tune in and listen to me talk tomatoes. Hosts Peter Felix and Ken Six are always good for a laugh while sharing their arboriculture expertise and answering callers' questions about tree care.

And -- whatever you do -- DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

Check out the tomato prep techniques and recipes from Newsday's Sylvia Carter here:
http://www.newsday.com/features/food/ny-food-fdcov0815,0,5471690.story

And Marge Perry has 3 Simple suggestions. Check 'em out and learn how to make Pasta with Salsa Cruda, Tomato and Olive Bruschetta, and Gazpacho.

A nomination isn't enough -- I need your vote! Please click the image at right to vote for Garden Detective for Best Hobby blog in the Blogger's Choice Awards. You guys ROCK!!!