Chicago’s Tomato Man on mission to assist others rethink the plant by providing greater than 100 sorts of heirloom tomatoes

To Bob Zeni, a wonderfully spherical and completely purple store-bought tomato is one thing to take a look at, however to not contact. The truth is, Zeni hasn’t bought a tomato since 1990. He grows his personal heirloom tomatoes to keep away from shopping for what he calls “tasteless travesties” or “purple water balloons.”

“Gardening itself could be very satisfying and positively pleasurable,” Zeni mentioned. “Seeing the best way it appears is gorgeous.”

For greater than a decade, Zeni has adopted the identical routine.

In February, he started planting tomatoes at his La Grange house. Wherever a window was in sight, a desk holding a pot of budding heirlooms sat proper subsequent to it. In March, he moved his crops to his moveable yard greenhouse. Zeni’s daughter, Rebecca, and several other neighbors helped him arrange what appears like a transparent plastic tent geared up with house heaters. By April, the tomato crops can be prepared on the market.

However that was till 2019 as a result of like his heirloom tomato crops, Zeni’s enterprise continued to develop till there was no more room in his house or driveway.

Now Zeni, who was dubbed the “Chicago Tomato Man” by his daughter, has greater than 4,000 heirloom tomato crops in a greenhouse that stretches so far as a metropolis block. Inside are greater than 100 sorts of the fruit, starting from huge purple beefsteak tomatoes to darkish and easy Black Magnificence tomatoes, and vibrant yellow Golden Grape tomatoes that may brighten up any salad.

Beginning this previous Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Zeni began working alongside Gardeneers volunteers of their spacious greenhouses. Gardeneers is a nonprofit group that makes use of college backyard packages to show college students about nature, diet, the best way to domesticate contemporary vegetables and fruit and the way assist the planet at an area degree.

Adam Zmick, CEO of Gardeneers, mentioned Zeni’s planting is aligned with what the group does and is a approach to higher help college gardens.

“The way it works is {that a} group of backyard educators go to our 16 colleges at the least as soon as every week to get college students arms on within the backyard,” Zmick mentioned. “(Zeni) wants a whole lot of arms to do all these items so we’re capable of contribute and we will earn some earnings to assist help our college gardens.

This yr, every tomato plant prices $6, with greater than three of these {dollars} going to Gardeneers.

“They’re placing in a whole lot of the time and the hassle,” Zeni mentioned. “They deserve it.”

Between April and Might, his prospects decide up their pre-orders from a number of completely different places all through town, in addition to Evanston, La Grange Park, Lamont, Palatine and Wheaton.

And a few of Zeni’s prospects have walked away with greater than only a tomato plant.

One father has been capable of train his kids about harvesting. A mom and daughter duo are strengthening their bond through the use of their inexperienced thumbs to contribute to a neighborhood church in Northbrook. And everybody who has bought a tomato plant from Zeni additionally has the chance to share the style of a contemporary heirloom and create new recipes.

“When folks decide it up, it’s gratifying as a result of persons are giddy with pleasure,” Zeni mentioned.

Selmaan Ansari, one among Zeni’s prospects, has bought tomatoes from him for the previous three years. A neighbor who knew Ansari was seeking to put collectively a backyard advised he try the big variety the Tomato Man was providing. It excited Ansari to search out somebody who was native.

“Yearly, I get about six to eight crops from him,” Ansari mentioned. “I’ve younger children they usually get to see them develop so when it’s time to reap they ask questions and wish to be those to choose the tomatoes off.”

For Monica Dim, a newbie gardener, that is the second yr she is buying from Zeni. She and her mom, Colette Dim, contribute to the St. Giles Episcopal Church neighborhood backyard in Northbrook.

Colette Dim mentioned she has been concerned with the neighborhood backyard for 14 rising seasons. There are 30 10-by-10 gardening plots.

“Anybody who gardens with us donates to the Northfield pantry and a few of the pantries in Evanston,” Colette mentioned. “I mentioned to Monica, ‘Let’s get our tomatoes collectively,’ so we determined to go headlong and get a dozen tomato crops every for final yr.”

Although that is Monica’s second yr buying tomatoes, it’s her first yr getting the total gardening expertise.

“I used to be 9 months pregnant once I first purchased my tomato crops from him so I had an excellent quantity of questions and wasn’t capable of do a whole lot of the planting myself,” she mentioned. “When you’ll be able to develop and share your personal tomatoes, it’s very thrilling and he made that doable for me.”

However a few of his newer prospects are confused or disillusioned once they first see their tomato plant. For Zeni, it’s a possibility for a teachable second.

“I get complaints from preliminary consumers as a result of I give them this plant and it’s actually tall and it’s kinda skinny and it’s kinda bushy they usually say, ‘Nicely, there’s one thing mistaken with this plant,” Zeni mentioned. “I inform them no, simply bury the underside third and it’ll blossom, don’t fear about it.”

Zeni stays engaged along with his prospects months after the sale. He takes telephone calls to reply any questions, and asks for pictures to examine on the expansion course of as a result of he can empathize with the frustrations his prospects face.

“Tomatoes are filled with moisture and juice they usually want the water,” Zeni mentioned. “The opposite factor is in case you drown it after which neglect about it for 2 weeks, the core of the tomato grows sooner than the shell of the tomato so what occurs is that the core breaks the shell and that’s whenever you get the mildew on the high.”

For Zeni, the important thing to rising a ripe tomato is discovering the correct stability of warmth, mild, water, together with tender, loving care. He admitted that it took shut to twenty years earlier than discovering success.

“Yearly I failed and yearly I realized from that,” Zeni mentioned. “There’s a whole lot of frustration with it from having an excessive amount of water or sufficient water, an excessive amount of warmth, not sufficient warmth and making an attempt to promote these items.”

This yr was no completely different.

“I all the time lose about 15 to twenty% and this yr, regardless of our greatest efforts, we did lose 20%,” Zeni mentioned. “One of many cabinets had fallen over in order that killed an entire bunch of them after which in March we moved them over to the greenhouse considering there was warmth and there wasn’t in order that killed a number of others as effectively.”

Dealing with these difficulties not solely makes Zeni really feel like a extra educated gardener. The sudden twists and turns additionally assist the tomatoes turn out to be extra resilient.

“It has not been heat, it has not been sunny and there was far an excessive amount of rain, so the crops are struggling, however that’s not a nasty factor,” Zeni mentioned. “You must harden off tomatoes which means you need to expose them to variations of temperatures, which strengthens their stem.”

The frustrations repay, nevertheless, as a result of he will get to experiment with new sorts of heirloom tomatoes annually.

“When the phrase heirloom is utilized to rising vegetables and fruit it means created utilizing non-GMO, open pollinated methods,” Zeni mentioned. “It’s not the frequent definition of being previous. As oxymoronic because it sounds, there are new heirlooms.”

This yr Zeni is rising a tomato from seeds given to him by a Norridge buyer final yr. The client mentioned the seeds have been from his spouse’s grandfather, who had been saving seeds from Calabria, Italy, yearly for 100 years.

“I used to be honored that he would consider me,” Zeni mentioned. “He didn’t have a reputation for it so we named it Artwork Zaino’s Centenarian.”

Artwork Zanio was the grandfather’s identify and to Zeni’s data, he’s the one one promoting that exact selection.

When not doing enterprise, Zeni enjoys a quiet evening consuming a plate of contemporary pasta along with his spouse, Wendy, who cans the tomatoes.

“We take it out within the winter and she or he makes a secret spaghetti sauce that she realized from her mom,” Zeni mentioned. “It’s brisker, it tastes nice and it’s higher than the shop.”

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