Hurley's tomato is just too mulch

August 17, 2007

WILLIAMSPORT - The Elmwood Farm community in Williamsport is producing more than new homes.

In a year that has been a challenge for gardening, Mike Hurley produced a tomato that weighed 2 pounds, 7 ounces. He said the vines grew to 6-plus feet and are now draping over and filled with more 2-pound tomatoes.

Hurley said he was given two plants in early spring by a co-worker who said they were yellow tomatoes. The plants were kept inside in early spring where they grew and grew.

Hurley said he worked the soil in the beds with dehydrated manure, humus and peat moss. He mulched with mushroom soil.

"These plants just wouldn't stop growing and this tomato was the first and it wouldn't stop growing either, " Hurley said.

He joked that when he showed earlier photos of the tomato while it was still green to his co-workers they accused him of using steroids on the plant.

Hurley said he wasn't sure the tomato would even ripen, but it started turning pinkish red the first of the month. He picked it Aug. 6 even though it was a chore. The tomato didn't want to leave its home.

Hurley learned that the seeds for this plant originated in Tennessee.

"I remember my grandmother in southern Virginia growing 2-pound tomatoes when I was a kid. I'm sure she is smiling down from above looking at my monster tomato today," Hurley said.

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