Study: Women who talk to tomatoes grow bigger plants

Tomato plants grown by women who talk to them grow about 2 inches taller than those grown by men who converse with the plants, according to new research conducted by the prestigious Royal Horticultural Soceity in Great Britain.

People who talk to their plants have insisted for generations that those plants grow better, while cynics questioned their sanity. Now, there's scientific evidence that there's something to it.

While I have long suspected that the cabon dioxide released when we speak had something to do with it, the new experiment doesn't really support that. Apparently, vocal quality is more of a factor.

"We predicted that the male voice would be more effective, but it turned out that the ladies were far better than the gentlemen," Colin Crosbie, RHS garden superintendent  is quoted as saying in  the London Telegraph. "We just don't [know] why. It could be that they have a greater range of pitch and tone that affects the sound waves that hit the plant. Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light."

This just might give ladies an edge in this year's Great Long Island Tomato Challenge, although we haven't had a female winner yet. Get planting, and chat those babies up.