The Homegrown Tomato Challenge returns to the Garden in St. Louis to see who grows the best tomatoes.
This year two grand prize winners will walk away with $2500 each for the best tomato in both the small and large categories, while runners-up will each receive $250 in gift certificates. Only one entry per household is allowed.
St. Louis is one of only a handful of cities across America that were selected for this year’s Homegrown Challenge – the contest will also take place in Nashville, Denver, Sacramento, and Leominster, MA.
Contestant entry forms are available for download. There are also available at local Schnucks, Dierbergs, and Shop ’n Save grocery stores.
Registration begins at 9 a.m.; judging
at 11:30 a.m. and winners will be announced at noon. Garden admission is free on Aug. 16 before noon to anyone who brings three large tomatoes or six small tomatoes (of the same type) to enter in the contest.
 Best Homegrown Tomato Challenge
Sponsored by NatureSweet.
Saturday, August 16
9 a.m. to noon
Cohen Amphitheater
Download entry form.
Tips to Get Started
With planting season upon us, it’s time to start planning your garden! Of course every great backyard gardener has their own secret methods for producing perfect summer tomatoes, but just in case we’ve got a few tips to offer:
• Amateur gardeners should start with rich soil
• Don’t crowd seedlings or plants
• Water on a regular schedule
• Pinch and prune
• Control insects
Learn more about tomatoes by visiting the Kemper Center's tomato page. |
Last year's winners took home more than $5,000 in cash and prizes!
Did you Know?......Tomato Tidbits
• Tomatoes were originally cultivated in the Americas by the Aztecs and Incas.
• Columbus "discovered " the tomato and brought it back to Europe.
• The French labeled the tomato "love apple"; the Germans called the tomato "apple of paradise." The word tomato comes from the Aztec word "Tomato."
• There are more than 4,000 varieties of tomatoes.
• Americans eat roughly 17 lbs. of tomatoes per capita on average each year.
• A tomato is botanically a fruit, not a vegetable, because it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization has occurred. However, it is categorized by its use, thus making it a vegetable by law. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that because the tomato is eaten with the main part of the meal instead of dessert, it is indeed a vegetable.
• Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene - the stuff that makes tomatoes red -which research suggests may reduce prostate cancer in men. Tomatoes are also a source of dietary fiber, potassium, iron, phosphorous and some B vitamins. They are low in sodium and contain no cholesterol.
• Over 40 million Americans grow their own tomatoes – no wonder the Homegrown Challenge is so popular!
Source: NatureSweet Tomatoes
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