Garden Detective

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.

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