This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 23, 2013 - On Saturday, home-grown tomatoes and the people who love them will gather at the Missouri Botanical Garden for a little contest.
From 9 a.m. to noon at the Cohen Amphitheater, the public is invited to bring their own home-grown tomatoes to see who’s made the best (and most delicious,) at the NatureSweetHomegrown Tomato Challenge.
“If you grow tomatoes and you love a good tomato, come and bring your tomatoes and see if they measure up with sweetness, flavor and overall taste,” says Tracy Reeder with NatureSweet.
The event kicks off a three-city tour, including stops in Colorado and Georgia, and revives the brand’s home-grown tomato contest, which started in 2003 and took a break after 2010.
Helping your garden grow
If you’re not ready to enter your own tomatoes just yet, these tips may help you be a winner next year. June Hutson, supervisor with the Kemper Home Demonstration Gardens at the Missouri Botanical Garden, recommends the following for growing great tomatoes:
• Be bright: Tomatoes need full sun, so plant them in a spot where they’ll get it.
• Water evenly: Keep your watering consistent and the soil evenly moist. Soil that dries out in parts can cause blossom end rot.
• Check for calcium deficiencies: Your water may not have enough calcium, and if necessary, apply a product to help supplement.
• Be patient: Now is the time for harvesting homegrown tomatoes, but when spring comes, many gardeners are eager to begin planting. Wait until the ground is warm enough, usually the end of April. If you plant when it’s too cold, the tomatoes can get stunted.
• Plant deep: If you can avoid it, don’t buy leggy (tall and spindly) tomato plants. But if they are leggy, plant them deep, leaving just six inches of the plant above the soil. You don’t want leggy, you want fat and strong.
• Don’t give up: Nights have been hot this summer, and when that happens, tomatoes will often quit producing and start flowering. Once it cools down a bit, though, they should produce again.
Judges will award two grand prizes, both $2,500, in the large and small tomato categories, as well as four runner-up prizes of $250 gift cards.
A chef’s challenge offers a grand prize of $2,500 and two $250 runners up. The chef portion, which is no longer open to contestants, began online when tomato lovers were asked to write short essays detailing why they love cooking with tomatoes. Three finalists were chosen and will compete on stage with a stocked pantry and the key ingredient of Glorys cherry tomatoes.
Judges for this year’s event include Cassy Viers, executive chef and owner, Home Wine Kitchen and Table; chef and owner Bryan Carr of Pomme Restaurant; Chuck Robinson, a columnist and editor with“The Packer,” a produce industry publication; Tori Lyons, a local broadcaster; and June Hutson, supervisor with the Kemper Home Demonstration Gardens at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
“They really taste the large and small tomatoes for flavor and texture, not sweetness,” Reeder says, “but overall flavor.”
The contest has seen up to 200 entrants in the past; and one year, Reeder says, a tomato grower drove 1,500 miles to take part.
To participate, bring either three large tomatoes or 10 small tomatoes in a labeled ziplock bag between 9 and 11 a.m. to the amphitheater. There is no cost to enter the contest, and Reeder says there will be games and giveaways throughout the morning.