Carmel Wins The 2007 Contest

The tomato growing season for 2007 has ended. The only entry for this year's contest was Carmel's Guiseppi Beefsteak, weighing 2 lbs 3.4 oz. On Oct 27 Carmel was officially declared the winner of this year's contest. The Glass Tomato trophy was handed to her by Dave Davisson, the previous title holder.

Congratulations Carmel!

Carmel Submits Her Giuseppi Beefsteak

Carmel brought to the tennis court deck her first tomato entry for weigh-in in our 2007 Giant Tomato Growing Contest July 24th. The tomato was a Giuseppi Beef Steak, weighing 2 lbs -3.4 oz (35.4 oz), with a girth of 18 inches. The plant was grown in a wine barrel with Stan's secret soil mix and plenty of TLC.

Since this is the first weigh-in of the season, Carmel has the lead, and it will be hard to beat. This Beef Steak already beats last year's winner, Dave Davisson's Caspian Pink, which weighed 24.7 oz.

Zack, Rudy and Carole were the weigh-in officials. Carmel brought some digital photos to prove that her tomato came from her vine and was a legitimate entry.

Tell Us About Your Garden!

The registration for the contest is now closed. There are nine people competing:

Zack
Louise C
Larry
Karl
DeDee
Carmel
Cyp
Carole
Rudy

Those who have not signed up on the blog please do so. This will allow you to post a topic for discussion; you can tell the group about your garden and post photos as well.

I have four competion tomatoes in the ground which I planted mid-April. I have one Mortgage Lifter in a container. I hope my plants will do better this year. I prepared my 4' x 8' garden (with Dave D's help) by rototilling into it chicken manure and grass clippings last December, then added compost and peat moss from Home Depot just before planting.

Louise's garden is the same size as mine and was prepared the same way.

Giant Tomato Growing Contest 2007

Welcome to our fifth season of growing giant tomatoes. This competition is to see who can grow the biggest tomato, and the winner gets to keep the glass tomato trophy for one year until the end of the next season, at which time the new winner gets to keep it. The trophy is shown in the photo.

Here are the not so well thought-out rules for the tomato growing contest.

1. The contestants as a whole will serve as the judges and will need a majority decision if a judgment needs to be rendered.

2. Rules can be changed by majority decision of the judges.

3. Tomatoes submitted for consideration must be grown by you on your own vines.

4. Greatest individual weight will be the deciding factor, not **circumference or size, in determining the winner.

5. No "doctoring" allowed. This means no injecting or implanting materials to falsely increase the weight or size of the tomato.

6. Digital photos are the suggested and encouraged method of substantiating the progress of your tomatoes. Submit all photos to Zack for publication.

7. Tomatoes become candidates for judging when you submit them in person, to the majority group for official weigh in.

8. Official scale will be provided by anyone who has the most accurate scale. **Circumference will be used if competing tomatoes have such similar weight that the scale can not establish the winner.

9. Weigh-in will be on Saturdays at the Millennium Sports Club tennis courts, at around 11:30 AM after Saturday High Intensity Tennis. The officials conducting the weigh-in are normally the members of this tennis group. Please notify the competition director at least 3 days in advance if you are bringing a tomato for official weigh in.

10. (4/18/07) A contestant winning two consecutive years cannot compete to win the third year.

11. (4/18/07) This contest is by invitation only.