THERE are tomatoes and then there are serious tomatoes.
Not content with your average 100g tom, Narraweena gardeners Rosa and Benito Albace (foto) have been growing a variety from Greece that produces fruit up to 14cm wide and weigh in at a monumental 800g each.
Mrs Albace, a great-grandmother of nine, said there were plenty of ways to use her mega-crop in traditional Italian food.
“I use the ripe ones for the tomato sauce for spaghetti and the ones that are a bit green for a salad my children like,” she said.
The secret to growing these super-sized tomatoes is spraying every 15 days or after rain to stop tomato-guzzling grubs getting a free feed.
“It’s such a shame when I find worms. But if I find one I throw the whole thing out – I already have enough tomatoes.”
While Mr and Mrs Albace aren’t sure exactly what the variety is called, it can be found in several northern beaches backyards where the seeds have been sourced by locals returning from overseas trips.
With one tomato being enough for an entire salad and the vines producing around two dozen large tomatoes in the past few weeks, summer for the Albace family looks set to be full of tomato sauce and salad for some time to come.
(source: manly daily)
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