Enter the 2017 Great LI Tomato Challenge
Peter Notarnicola of Massapequa won the award for biggest tomato with his 3-pound, 6.5-ounce edible at Newsday's Great Long Island Tomato Challenge in Melville on Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. Credit: Bruce Gilbert
Enter the 2017 Great Long Island Tomato Challenge
Peter Notarnicola of Massapequa took the top prize at last year’s Great Long Island Tomato Challenge with his behemoth 3-pound, 6.5-ounce Big Zac.
Notarnicola, 22, first entered the Challenge in 2011, when he was 16. He and his sister, Angel, then 18, took first place with their jointly grown 3-pound, 11.5-ounce Big Zac.
He’ll be back this year, having started more seeds this spring than ever before — and not just tomatoes. “I’m growing absolutely everything, even weird things like artichokes, cardoon, salsify,” he said. “If you can think it, I’m probably growing it.”
Are you in?
The 11th annual Great Long Island Tomato Challenge begins now. Give your plants plenty of tender loving care all summer long, then bring your biggest, heaviest fruit to the event, where it will be weighed and recorded by Newsday garden columnist Jessica Damiano.
There is no need to register; just come to Newsday headquarters (235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville) with your entry on Friday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. Enter the Newsday property from Pinelawn Road and follow the red balloons.
As you await the big day, send a photo of yourself with your tomato plants, along with details about your growing techniques and the varieties you’re growing, to jessica.damiano@newsday.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming issue of Newsday and on Newsday.com. Then come back and follow the competition every Sunday all summer long.
The rules:
Tomatoes must be homegrown, fresh and not previously frozen. Only those entered in the Smallest category need to be ripe, and stems should be removed from all entries before weighing.
Entries will be judged in six categories:
— Heaviest adult-grown tomato (ages 18 and up)
— Three heaviest youth-grown categories: 6 and younger; 7-12; 13-17
— Smallest, all ages (measured, not weighed; must be red)
— Ugliest, all ages (at the sole discretion of the judges)
