My Apologies in Advance

Greetings Fellow Tomatoans!

After viewing your blog, I must admit:  I may be playing in a league beyond my abilities and maturity level.  :)  You guys are serious about this tomato growing business!  I have a total of 9 plants.  Some came from the Napa Farmer's Market, Sonoma Farmer's Market, Osh, Costco and Home Depot.  I have planted 3 plants per half-barrel.

I used organic planting soil that a friend of mine sells.  He tells me the stuff is amazing... we'll see about that!  I also picked up some Jobe Fertilizer Stakes and some crazy liquid fertilizer that looks like trouble!  I've picked the first set of flowers and the bottom limbs off each plant.

After a long day of planting, I thought I'd do a bit of celebrating... which was perhaps THE contributing factor in the development of my "secret fertilizer" that may be the determining factor in this contest.  Depending on my success, I may be looking into bottling this elixir for sale at local retailers... stay tuned!

 

So now you have an idea as to what you are up against:  a highly competitive competitor competing against capable contestants!!!  A man that knows no limits, no bounds and is willing to go that EXTRA MILE in hopes of capturing the coveted Glass Ta'Mater.  :)

Looking forward to seeing and eating some of the fruits of our labor.  In all seriousness, one of the most rewarding things of living in California is the Tomato Season.  Let's grow some fruit!!! 

-Raf

My Tomatoes for Eating and for Competition

-By Dave

Well, I finally got most of the garden in (watermelons will wait 'til they get a bit bigger), trying a new soil mix and a few other ideas. You were interested in the varieties that I decided to plant this summer, specifically my competition tomatoes, they are as follows:

-competition tomatoes-

Soldacki - russian extract
Bloody Butcher - beefsteak
Yellow Brandywine - beefsteak
Copia - beefsteak (?)

-eating tomatoes-

Early girl
Mandarin Cross

right now they are just babies, but the bloody butcher already has a tomato on it, I will probably pinch it and any other blossoms off, as the plants are really too small to support any tomatoes as of yet. I would also like to see some more size and to start structuring the growth of the plants before allowing them to fruit.


I also have some peppers, pumkin, and sunflowers in the tomato garden area. To keep bugs down and for the sheer pleasure of it, I will also be planting some X-20 & X-19 marigolds. These are not your average marigolds, they will grow on an average of 3' tall and bloom profusely. I usually plant them like a fence around the garden entire, I have noticed ever since I started planting marigolds of any sort, that have never really had any problems with insect pests. As a side note: I have not grown any of these varieties before, should be fun to see how they do! I am enclosing a couple of garden pictures, nothing too exciting, too early for anything impressive.

Our Tomato Success Kits

-By Zack

I have never won this tomato contest in all these years, although I try hard every year to come up with the biggest tomato. I hope to have better luck this year. I purchased two Tomato Success Kits online. The kit includes a self-watering planter, a special soil mix, fertilizer, a support cage and a red plastic mulch. The vendor says this kit will produce 30% more yield than plants grown in-ground. We’ll have to see. I planted a Mortgage Lifter and a Big Beef in my kit and Louise planted a Cherokee Purple and a Caspian Pink in the other.

Besides the success kits we planted 8 tomatoes in-ground and 2 in half-wine barrels. I laid Red Mulch around most of my tomatoes. Red Mulch was developed by USDA and has shown to improve the growth rate and yield of tomatoes.

I also planted a couple of Big Zac tomatoes in our garden, one in a half-wine barrel and one in-ground. This heirloom has been known to produce fruits that weigh 4 pounds or more!

Dave's Garden

I was asked by Zack to write a quickie on planting tomatoes, so hopefully this will be of use to people who have ... gasp! Gophers, damn, I hate the little buggers. Where we live our hills are swiss cheese wih pocket gophers, nasty little buggers. Anyway, we have a dog, so 100% of the commercial stuff for killing gophers (of the ones that actually work) will kill our dog, not good. There are the gopher stakes (battery pulse) didn't work very well for me last year, so I'm going back to what works. I get pre-made wire baskets (any good nursery will have them, come in a 1gal.,3 gal.,5gal.) and place them under the ground with the plant inside of the wire basket. You can make your own out of chicken wire and spend a half hour cussing and swearing ... or buy the pre-made ones with directions on them, me I am lazy. I am going to include some photos of the process for anyone interested. Hope this helps!

Dave Davisson

ps. note the deep well and berm to hold the water. I use this method over drip irrgation if possible. I tend toward deep watering once every 3 days to a week (depending on the weather, hot or not). Plus it makes you look at your plants, so you see how they are responding to your methods.

Giant Tomato Contest Rules

Our not so well thought-out rules:

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.

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.

The 2006 Giant Tomato Growing Contest is over!

And the winner is, for third year in a row, Dave Davisson, with his Caspian Pink entry weighing 24.7 oz, and 16-1/2" girth. I have asked Dave to do a write up to share with us on how he does it, and maybe we can give him some competition next year. Dave gets to keep the glass tomato trophy for another year. Congratulations, Dave!

Dave's Caspian Pink Weighed in at 24.7 oz and takes the lead.

Saturday, 9/10

Dave and Carmel both brought in entries for weigh-in. Carmel's was a no-name red tomato presented on a nice platter. Dave had three big ones, all Caspian Pink, and all three easily beat Carmel's entry. At the end of the weigh in, Dave offered his biggest tomato to Carmel to take home and Carmel accepted to show her husband Stan what a competition tomato should look like.

Carmel's entry: No Name Red Tomato, 8.3 oz, girth 10-1/4"

Dave's entry:

Caspian Pink No. 1, 18.8 oz, girth 14"
Caspian Pink No. 2. 19.2 oz, girth 15-1/2"
Caspian Pink No. 3, 24.7 oz, girth 16-1/2"

Onome, the club manager and Larry did the honors of measuring and recording the entries.

Louise's Old German II Leads!!

On Saturday, 9/2, Louise C submitted another tomato, an Old German, for weigh-in. This one beat her first entry, and now it is the winning tomato. Larry took the measurements: Weight 17.1 oz, girth 13-7/8".

Loaded!!!

Hello! Well, I don't think it's going to be the biggest off my tomatos, but this one of my Caspian Pinks (close to 2lbs.) should be ready to weigh this weekend or next. Hillbilly looks as though it's going to put out some whoppers too, but it's a little behind the caspian. All of my tomato plants are loaded (most have between 15-20lbs. of tomato's hanging and getting ripe), 'bout time to start making salsa! I will notify Zack when my weigh-in tomato is ready.

Dave Davisson

Cyp's Red Beef Steak at Weigh In

Cyp brought his Red Beef Steak on Sunday, 8/27 at RAT for official weigh in. Larry did the measure- ments as witnessed by John and Carmel. The nice tomato weighed 15.2 ounces with a girth of 12-5/8" --not heavy enought to beat Louise's Old German entry.

With Cyp's permission, Carmel sliced this beautiful tomato and we ate it with beer!

Zack

Louise's Old German Got Weighed!

On Saturday, 8/26, Louise Chavez brought her Old German at the club for official weigh-in. Carole and Larry made the measurements and they came out to be:

Weight: 16.4 oz
Girth: 15-5/8"

Louise's entry is now the leading tomato, but the season is still early and I am sure more weigh-ins will follow.

Zack

Carmel's Tomatoes

Dear Tomato Contestants!

This is one of my Tomatoes that has been growing very rapidly. I expect it to be in contention for FIRST PRIZE!!!!! My husband, Stan has been watching it closely and feeding it healthy fertilizer, a special one from Argentina that is very hard to get. See you at the scales!!!!

Carmel

Cyp's Tomato Plant

Cyp has submitted this photo of his plant. The type of tomato is still a secret. He said he will provide more info later.

Carole's and Gayton's Entries

Carole brought in two tomatoes last Saturday, 7/29, for weigh-in. Hers was an Early Girl weighing 12.5 oz , girth 11-1/4". The other one was Gayton's entry, a Big Boy weighing 12.8 oz, with a girth of 11-3/4".

Gayton's Big Boy is the one to beat but the season is early, and I am sure there will be a lot more weigh ins coming up.

The photo shows Carole, grandaughter Lily and Larry who was officiating the weigh-in.

My Caspian Pink and Hillbilly

Latest pictures

Looks as though I may be doing some weigh-in's with my eating tomatos! The two I have pictured are... caspian pink & hillbilly, what's everybody else got?!

Dave Davisson

Dave Davisson's Garden

Hello!

Thought that I'd try and post a picture of the garden and give you folks a peek at what's going on in the backyard. Both of my competition tomatoes have fruit, but they are both a bit behind my eating tomatoes, lol. Hope you folks enjoy the pictures (if I do this right).

Dave