The 2011 Winner -- My Big Zac

It only took eight years of competing to win one. My second Big Zac entry this year took the title, officially weighing 35.0 ounces. I have now taken custody of the tomato trophy from Pam, the last year's winner.

My Big Zac No. 2 Leads!

The 2011 tomato contest is almost over. The last weigh-in was held on October 1st. The tomato was another Big Zac from my garden. This happened while I was out of town. I had asked Robert and the Mimaki girls to pick the tomato for the official weigh-in.

My Big Zac No. 2 was weighed at 35 ounces, with a girth of 17-3/8 inches, officially taking the lead.

This contest will end on Saturday, October 22nd. It doesn’t look like there will be anymore entries before then.. but we’ll have to wait and see.

My first entry this year: a Big Zac

The weigh-in happened last Saturday, 9/17. My Big Zac No. 1 beat Pam's by 0.1 ounce and is now in the lead!



The official measurements were 16.0" girth weighing 26.6 ounces.



Robert and Carmel performed the measurements.










I have another Big Zac (No. 2) on the same vine as my first one that presently has a girth of 17 inches and is still very green. It may grow another half inch before I pick it for the weigh-in.

Another Ace Hardware Tomato from Pam

The third entry of the season is Pam's Ace Hardware Beef Steak no. 2, easily beating the previously leading tomato (also Pam's) by about 6 ounces. This one was weighed officially by Rich and Larry last Friday, September 2. The tomato weighed 26.5 ounces, with a girth of 16-1/4 inches and is now the leader.




Pam brought in her tomato entry with Nils providing necessary security.




This contest is still young. I have lots of green tomatoes on the vine, and I am hoping at least one of them will be suited for this competition. Here are two examples:

An Ace Hardware Tomato Takes the Lead

Pam brought in an entry to our tomato contest last Saturday, August 20 at the RAT Barbecue for weigh-in. The official weight was 20.6 ounces with a girth of 13.5 inches. Pam said the tomato was a Beefsteak type which she bought at Ace Hardware! This entry beats the previous leader, Carmel's Super Steak by about 2 ounces.

The First Entry of the Year

Last Saturday, August 6, Carmel brought in a beautiful tomato for weigh-in. It was a Super Beefsteak. The Mimakis took the honor of doing the measurements. The official weight was 18.8 ounces with a girth of 13-15/16 inches.

The winning tomato last year was Pam’s Brandywine at 21.1 ounces.

Linda's Early Girls

By Linda Gephart

Zack gave me one of his Early Girl tomato plants that he had grown from seed early this spring. He explained how to "harden" the plant by putting it out during the day and bringing it in at night. I was pretty good about following his directions... for about a week. Then, one night, I forgot to bring her in.

Of course, it happened to be a very windy night. The next morning we noticed that our little baby tomato plant that was so gently nestled in a small cardboard box and wrapped in newspaper had disappeared. I spotted the box (empty) sitting against the fence. The newspaper had blown under a thorny rose bush. The plastic plant pot was nowhere to be seen. However, back in the corner of the garden was our tiny, fragile Early Girl tomato plant. She was gasping for air and water laying there in the sun, braced against the fence.
















I gently rescued her, placed her in a coffee cup and gave her a drink of water. After a couple of weeks, she was just as happy as the day (before) she blew away. Bill and I planted her in a protected spot in the garden so she could grow and be happy.

After weeks of watering her, fertilizing a little, and talking to her, we now have 5 lovely tomatoes just about ready for a salad.

Thank you, Zack for giving me this Early Girl.

This plant won't be competing

One of my two type Delicious tomato plants has curled leaves and suffering from stunted growth; it doesn’t look healthy at all. I am almost ready to chop it in pieces for my compost pile. My healthiest and biggest so far is the Japanese Fuquju, though I haven’t seen any fruits yet. The Early Girl has started bearing fruits and I should be able to make my first tomato salsa out of them in a month.

The rest of my garden is flourishing and has been giving us fresh green salads to enjoy everyday.

These tomato plants in my Success Kits are doing just fine. The Early Girl has little fruits already.

The cabbage has lots of big leaves but no heads yet!



We enjoy our salad greens.

Tekka loves our garden too!

Pam's Garden Update

The Garden



Cherries, Yellow Pear, Chocolate and Red


Brandywine with first tomato.


The first tomato of the season.

Cucumber

Zucchini

Green Beans

Kay’s Tomatoes

They look so healthy. Kay has a Big Zac and a plant grown from seed she got from Japan. The tomato is called ‘Fuquju’. The two plants are in containers.

My Garden part 2

By Dave Davisson

Well, with the break in the weather I decided to go out and harvest some radish out of the garden, I got a far better harvest than I had hoped for. The variety is a "early" radish called "Sparkler", and I really like it, crisp and sharp (sorry, I haven't found a mean one yet). To find out more of what is going on in my garden, check out: vimeo.com/24538828. Hope you enjoy the tour.


Dave

Where is "Spring into Summer" ???

By Pam Knudstad

But the rain... it's good for the garden! (Check out the pics!)

This year, I have:
Tomatoes: 2 Brandywine Heirloom, 1 Beefsteak, 1 Roma
1 yellow pear
1 chocolate cherry
1 large red cherries

Veges: broccoli
zucchini
carrots
Japanese cucumbers
beets
Kentucky Blue pole beans
sugar snap peas
celery
Swiss Chard
Basil
Watermelon
Cantelope
pumpkins

Tennis players, start juicing!

A comment on beet juice from the Berkeley Wellness Letter:

Beet juice may enhance athletic performance. Young men who consumed beet juice used less oxygenwhen walking and running, which suggests they were exercising more efficiently. The same researchersfound that men who consumed beet juice were able to bicycle longer, compared to those drinking a placebo beverage. The effects were attributed to the nitrates in beets. (Journal of Applied Physiology 2010)

Beefsteak (Pedrotti Ace Hardware) & Basil (Mid City)
Brandywine Heirloom (Started from Seed)
Broccoli, Carrots, Beet & Cucumber (All from Seeds)

Juicy Katie in Pink!
Kentucky Blue Pole Beans surrounded by Beets (All from Seeds)
Miss Katie between Brandywine & Beefsteak
Sugar Snap Peas & Water Melon in Front (From seeds)
Vege Beds

Dave's Garden 2011

By Dave Davisson


Pictures are so outdated. Video is where it's at, baby! Check out my garden in HD video, I will update it monthly (once Zack has shown me how, lol), I hope you enjoy the short tour.
vimeo.com/23767480

Dave

Carmel's Garden

Carmel has 19 tomato plants of 10 varieties! She said she didn't even lift a finger to make this garden. Her loving husband Stan did it all!




Her tomatoes are:

Celebrity
Marriana's Peace
Champion
Goliath
Sac Margano
Super Steak
Big Beef
Beef Steak
Heirloom Brandy Wine
Cherry

Beautiful garden, Carmel!

The Hard Work is Done

By Zack Chavez

My vegetable garden this year is finally in place. In addition to my regular selection of tomatoes I have expanded my garden to include lots of salad greens, onions, carrots, beets and three squash varieties. I even installed a trellis for my squash plants. Tekka loves to be in my garden chair ready to drive away intruders.


I planted ten tomato plants – all started from seeds. My five plants for competition are Big Zac (2), Delicious (2), and a Japanese variety (seeds compliments of my friend Kay). They are all in half wine barrel containers.


I started the seeds indoors in early February using my AeroGarden, and by early April the plants were all ready for transplanting outdoors. I ended up with more plants than I needed for my garden so I gave away all my extras.

I planted four of my favorite tomatoes for eating in my two Tomato Success Kits. They are in self-watering containers.
I have been using these kits for three years now and every year they have produced a great yield.

Now pretty much all I do is fertilizing and weed control. My watering is on a drip system with an automatic timer.

The 2011 Competition has started

This year’s contest is off to a good start with more tomato gardeners signing up to compete for the tomato trophy. Many are anxious to get their plants in their garden. I sowed my seeds from my last year’s garden four weeks ago. The seedlings are now about 4 inches tall. They will be ready for my garden when spring comes in a few weeks.

Kay Mimaki gave me a pack of seeds from Japan (type Fuquju). This plant is supposed to yield big fruits suitable for competition. I started the seeds 4 days ago and the seedlings should be showing up anytime now. Kay is competing this year for the first time. She says she will be planting a Fuquju that I hope to give her if the seeds germinate, and I will also give her a Big Zac and Delicious from my seedling collection.

Besides the Fuquju, it looks like I will have a total of 28 plants. I only plan to plant 10 of those in my garden and the rest I will give away.