Garden Detective

UPDATE: Already in the lead, Uresh has come forward with a 2 lb., 2 oz. Burpee Porterhouse.

Uresh Sheth of Syosset is a relative newcomer to the vegetable-growing community, having grown tomatoes and other crops for only one season prior to this summer. Call it beginner's luck if you will, but the man's plants are seven feet tall -- and "so heavy with fruit that the plants tipped over onto the asparagus plants despite being staked!" he boasts.

He's growing 20 tomato plants in his Syosset garden. Varieties include Porterhosue, Supersteak, Belgian Giant and Fresh Salsa, which he purchased from the Burpee website, and San Marzano, Mortgage Lifter and German Pink, which he bought at Hicks Nurseries in Westbury.

"I went a little nuts this year," says Sheth, 40, adding, "I think next year I'm going to scale it back to about 10 plants."

Recipe for success

Before planting in mid-May, Sheth, a busy father of two who works as a bond structurer for a broker dealer in Connecticut, tilled in a generous helping of bone meal and tomato plant food he ordered from the Garden's Alive! website. He tossed in a couple of bags of compost from Hicks for good measure. "I've been spraying the plants with liquid fertilizers as well as applying natural insecticides and fungicides, which I also got from Garden's Alive.com."

His diligence is beginning to pay off. "I'm just starting to get a few medium-sized tomatoes that have ripened," he says, "and I expect the coming weeks to bring a huge haul!"

"My garden is my therapy, relaxation, and pride and joy," says Karen Vati, 49, of Massapequa Park. "This year I am growing 12 Beefsteak, 1 cherry and 2 Campari plants that we've started from those little tomatoes in the grocery store as an experiment."

Vati, a design consultant with Drexel Heritage, grows her crop in 10 raised beds lined with 12 x 12 pavers "to keep the weeds out." She removes the bottom leaves on the plants and keeps them upright with bamboo "teepees" made from bamboo grown by her husband,Tom. "Forget cages!" she says, asserting that her homemade contraptions work better.

Every two weeks, the mother of two -- Marisa, 18, and Michael, 15 -- gives her plants a shot of Miracle-Gro, and so far, she says, "the crop looks to be outstanding."

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of one day visiting our 50th state. Ever since 1972, when I sat on the edge of my seat, three weeks in a row, watching The Brady Bunch's cliffhanging three-part episode -- the one where Greg finds an "ancient" tiki idol, which he believes is responsible for the string of unfortunate events that follow.

I finally made it to Hawaii this summer. I didn't nearly drown, nor did I have any run-ins with tarantulas or Vincent Price. I didn't see any ancient burial grounds like my Brady friends did, but I did get to visit some beautiful gardens. I wore a Plumeria lei, watched my kids surf in the Pacific and said things like "mahalo" and "aloha" whenever the opportunity arose. I attended a luau, took a ukulele lesson, ate Poi, sat on Kailua beach and hiked to the top of Diamond Head, the crater of an inactive volcano. I even learned how to propagate pineapple plants during a visit to the Dole Plantation in Waialua.

It's an unusual process. So simple. And fun for the kids, too.

To get started, cut the leafy crown off the top of an ordinary, store-bought pineapple, keeping the knife blade as close to the crown as possible. Slice off any remaining flesh until you see small dots circling the underside of the crown. Those are the root buds.

Allow it to dry at room temperature -- upside down -- for 7 days. You'll notice the cut end will become hard to the touch.

Strange as it sounds, all you have to do next is place the crown on top of a potful of soil. Twist it in a bit, but don't get any soil in the leaves. The crown and the leaves should stick out of the soil so that it appears you've buried an entire pineapple and left the top inch or so exposed with the leaves attached.

Dole experts recommend using a porous clay pot and lining it with an inch of gravel before filling with a mixture of 70% light soil and 30% compost.

Place in a sunny indoor spot, water every week and fertilize every four months with ordinary houseplant food. In 18-22 months, you'll be eating your own, Long Island house-grown pineapple.

At around 18 months, the plant should sprout a red cone.

Soon afterward, you'll be rewarded with rows of beautiful blue flowers -- the predecessors of fruit. Allow the fruit to remain on the plant for 6 months. When it's rich gold in color, it's time to feast. Your plant will be shot, but you'll have another crown to plant.

TIP: If a red cone doesn't sprout by month 20, Dole recommends coaxing it by placing the entire pot in a sealed plastic bag with a ripe apple and setting it in a dark spot for 3 days. The apple emits ethylene gas, which induces flower production. Remove the plant from the bag and place it back near the window. Look for the cone within 2 months.

Matthew Ippolito from Selden believes he has a shot at growing Long Island's biggest tomato. His 15 x 20 foot garden has yielded two-pounders in the past but he's banking on Burpee's Porterhouse hybrid tomato this year, hoping for a four-pound whopper.

He's also growing Mortgage Lifter, Black Brandywine and Cherokee purple varieties, but he says the Porterhouse is his "strongest competitor."

"I picked up the hobby from my grandfather," said Ippolito, 36, a human resources assistant with the I.R.S., who is growing plants in the same plot his grandfather nurtured years ago. "Nothing too fancy in the dirt," he said, when asked about his methods. "Just lots of sun and water. And I put down some Garden-Tone about once a month."

ARE YOU IN?

Think you'll grow Long Island's biggest tomato this year? Tell me your story, your plan and your secret. Drop me a line at jessica.damiano@newsday.com. Be sure to include your name, town, phone number and tomato plant details. You must be willing to be photographed and be available for periodic visits. If you have photos of yourself in your garden, send them too. No experience is necessary. The winner will be announced at the end of the season.

Progress will be followed right here, on the Garden Detective blog.

Meet Contestant #2

Larry Goldstein, 75, of Plainview is our second contestant, challenging Matthew Barcia of West Hempstead in the quest for Long Island's biggest tomato. This year, he planted 48 seedlings, which he grew indoors from seeds. Some of those seeds were hand-scraped from store-bought Campari tomaotes.

Goldstein fortifies his plants only with composted manure and covers the bed with red plastic mulch from the Gardens Alive! Catalog. He says he never has the need for fertilizers or pesticides.

Over the winter, Goldstein started 72 plants in a seed tray on a windowsill in his home. He placed ordinary heating pads on a timer under the tray. "I know you're supposed to, but I can't bear to pick out and kill the little extras so I transplant the doubles into the garden," he said. "If they're weak looking, I take them out, but if they're healthy looking I keep them. They work."

Goldstein has been growing tomatoes for nearly 40 years. "My father was born on a farm, so I guess it's in the genes," he said, adding that he recently discovered the red sheet plastic that covers his tomato beds. Trying to save money a few years back, Goldstein tried using red plastic tablecloths instead. "They didn't work. By the end of the season they were all faded and ripped," he said. So he began using the Gardens Alive! product. He even left the cover in the garden over the winter. "This year, when I took the plastic off the tomato areas, there were no weeds underneath, so all I did was take my little power cultivator and plowed up three strips where the tomatoes are going to be. I rototilled the strips with composted manure."

And therein lies his secret.

ARE YOU IN?

Think you'll grow Long Island's biggest tomato this year? Tell me your story, your plan and your secret. Drop me a line at jessica.damiano@newsday.com. Be sure to include your name, town, phone number and tomato plant details. You must be willing to be photographed and be available for periodic visits. If you have photos of yourself in your garden, send them too. No experience is necessary. The winner will be announced at the end of the season.

Progress will be followed right here, on the Garden Detective blog.

The Great Long Island Tomato Challenge is heating up, so here's a little comic relief. I'm sure all you serious tomato growers can relate.

Some people are really protective of their tomatoes. I spoke with Vivian Sesto of Lindenhurst about the great tomato caper that played out in her backyard last summer:

"My husband, Greg, and his 80-year-old father are Italian, and are obsessed with growing tomatoes. They have a big garden, but they'll stick extra plants anywhere there's a spot, even between my pom pon bushes."

Greg is so well known for his bountiful crop that neighbors "beg him for tomatoes, but he won't give them out."

One night in August, Sesto overhead Greg and his father having a "very serious conversation" in the backyard. "We'll pick that one tomorrow," they schemed, pointing to "a giant, deformed" specimen that they'd been eyeing for days. Sesto evesdropped as they strategized about how best to use their precious fruit: "We'll make half into salad, use part for burgers," they whispered giddily.

"I just don't understand how they take it so seriously," Sesto shrugged, continuing: "The next day Greg goes out, and in a minute he comes flying back into the house, screaming, 'Where's my tomato?'"

"There were about 300 tomatoes in the yard at the time, so I didn't think it was a big deal, but Greg was livid. He was pacing in the yard. Then he called my neighbor, who has been known to come into the yard and help himself. But he swore he had nothing to do with it."

Trying to quiet her husband, Sesto told him it would be best to calm down. "Let's think," she said. "The only people in the yard were the landscaping crew, whom we've had for 15 years."

Demanding justice, Greg called the landscaper. "I wouldn't care if they stole my Jet Ski, but I want my tomato back!" he shouted into the phone.

The landscaper hunted down his employees, who were on a lunch break, and then reported back: "There are several small tomatoes on their dashboard," he said sheepishly. "My crew has tomato seeds in their teeth, but 'the big one' is no where to be found."

"That crew wouldn't come back for weeks," Sesto said, laughing. And when they did, "Greg wouldn't even look at them."

Meet our first contestant

Matthew Barcia of West Hempstead claims he has the secret to building a better tomato. Having grown the fruit in his backyard gardens for more than 20 years, Barcia believes he has perfected the process. I'm going to grow the biggest tomato on Long Island this summer," he says confidently.

"I've gotten insight on a tomato called a Belgian tomato. After talking to many different people, I learned there's no specific secret, but there are many many different techniques that could be used," says Barcia, 48, a case worker in foster care for the Department of Social Services in Nassau County.

One of those techniques is the "V" technique, he says. "Old-time Italians from the other side claim you should make a V out of the plant by pruning into a V shape so you have two stalks going up in a V formation. My father grew tomatoes that way, but I've learned it's not necessarily the best way to get the biggest tomato."

So what is? "Strong roots. I was informed recently that when you pruchase a plant, make sure you bury the plant to develop a strong root system, use a good top soil and plenty of water on a daily basis," he says. "Also use a solution of sulphur and nitrate -- I'm using a Miracle-Gro solution."

Barcia has planted 3 Belgian Giant plants, purchased at Hicks Nurseries in Westbury, and 20 Super Hybrid beefsteaks purchased at Garden World in Franklin Square and at an Ace Hardware store in Pennsylvania. Each plant is surrounded by either a 42-inch or a 54-inch wire cage, and they're planted about two feet apart. "I'm being very particular this year about making sure it's completely weed free so the plants can absorb as much water and nutrients as possible."

And now he waits for what he's certain will be a whopper.

Barcia, a single father raising three children alone, has passed along his love of gardening to his children, Jaclyn, 12, Julie, 13, and Kristin, 16. "They enjoy it tremendously," he says. "I taught them everything I know about watering the right way so you don't knock off the flowers, and keeping the garden weed free. They're all very motivated about working in the garden and helping out."

With the whole family involved, Barcia is sure he'll produce a killer of a tomato. And he believes some newly acquired sunlight will increase his odds. "My neighbor just removed a very large maple tree that was shading my yard, so for the first time in 20 years I believe I have not only the right technique and the right plant, but as much sun as possible."

TIPS FOR HEALTHY TOMATO PLANTS

The key to growing good tomatoes is planting them in warm soil, removing the lower leaves and burying them very deeply (don't worry, they'll grow roots along their stems,) regularly pinching off small stems that grow in the joints between branches, and making sure they get plenty of sunlight and regular watering. Irregular watering leads to blossom end rot, a disease caused by a calcium deficiency. Tomatoes need calcium, so some people add crushed egg shells to the soil for this purpose. Others bury a whole uncooked egg under the plant, while some water their plants with water in which they're boiled eggs. Dolomite is a good soil amendment.

ARE YOU IN?

Matthew Barcia believes he'll grow the biggest and best tomato on Long Island this year. Will he -- or will yours be bigger? I'm challenging my tomato-growing readers to join the quest for the biggest tomato.

To be considered as a contestant, you must be willing to be photographed and be available for periodic weigh-ins. No experience is necessary. The winner will be announced at the end of the season.

Tell me your story, your plan and your secret. Send an email to jessica.damiano@newsday.com. Be sure to include your name, town, tomato growing details and contact information. If you have photos of yourself in your garden, send them too.

Progress will be followed right here, on the Garden Detective blog.