Q&A: Meet the Komoka man who grows large greens for enjoyable

Ever seen a tomato as huge as a basketball?

It’s harvest time, and for some growers, these fall-favourite greens are coming off the vine further massive.

Komoka’s Patrick Watson, the president of the Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario, is one in all them. His interest group makes a speciality of rising gigantic meals, from jumbo tomatoes to large pumpkins and colossal cabbages, all for enjoyable and a little bit competitors.

He spoke with CBC’s Matt Allen on Afternoon Drive about this 12 months’s spectacular crop, a tomato weighing in at 8.15 lbs.

This interview has been edited for size and readability.

Matt Allen: What is that this factor that you simply introduced into this studio?

Patrick Watson:  I did not develop a giant pumpkin this 12 months, and I believe it might be a little bit arduous to usher in a 1,500 pound pumpkin, so I introduced an 8.15 pound tomato.

MA: My goodness! You’d want a forklift to usher in a pumpkin of that measurement. But this tomato, it is large! What precisely goes into rising a vegetable of this measurement?

PW:  I believe you really want to start out off with seed. You need to have wonderful seed genetics to have any actual success in any respect. With rising giants, whether or not or not it’s a tomato or pumpkin, having seed is de facto the place you have to begin.

After that, you have to do a little bit of analysis. There’s a little bit bit of labor that goes into it. You’ve received to have good soil, and you have to have good water, and good luck.

MA:  You got here actually near breaking the Canadian document. What received in the best way of that?

PW: In Canada, the current official tomato record is 7.43 pounds. You cannot management when this stuff go ripe. They have a registry for tomatoes that are not ripening on the time of a weigh off. And sadly, I waited a little bit too lengthy once I reduce this off. When I weighed at dwelling, it was 8.48 kilos. So I used to be so shut.

The downside is, it had some cracks in it and I observed a little bit little bit of leaking. You’re allowed to have cracks, however you are not allowed to have leaking. So I needed to DQ it from official competitors. But it is nonetheless one of many bigger tomatoes that is ever been rising in Canada.

MA: I’m certain all vegetable growers on the market, after they hear the scale of it, they’re questioning how on earth did it keep on the stalk? Tell us the way you managed to maintain this factor up.

PW: Well, I believe you may think about with an eight pound tomato hanging on a vine, it is gonna decide itself in some unspecified time in the future in the event you do not help the burden. So, this tomato grew in a hammock. I made a pleasant little hammock for it to relaxation in, so there was no stress on the vine that was feeding it. That actually works effectively.

MA: For the individuals who is perhaps enthusiastic about attempting out the sort of gardening, what are a few of the suggestions that you’d have for them?

PW: If you need to get into excessive gardening and take a look at rising giants, actually take into consideration becoming a member of the Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario. Our membership isn’t just Ontario members. We have members all throughout Canada. We have members over within the U.Ok. and we even have members within the United States. We share our seeds throughout as effectively. You get a seed pack mailed out to you, and you may be a part of our Facebook group web page. You can discuss to all of the growers.