Coviello Tomatoes Still Growing Strong

On the Coviello family vines in Florham Park, Mike Coviello thinks he's hit on something.

Coviello used one corner of his garden, an enclosed space for his personal tomato and pepper plants, to plant the family's Rose of Italy heirloom tomatoes. The corner with the most tomatoes growing sits in about six inches of water, instead of being continually drained. 

"Everybody says you've got to have drainage," Coviello said, "[but] I don't think drainage is the answer."

The two brothers came to the US from Italy in 1958 with an extensive family background in agriculture and horticulture. Keeping the plants in nutrient-rich water is one of the secrets to the family's horticultural success this year; the other secrets are closely-guarded family, well, secrets.

Still, it's enough for Mike to say in dismay as he trims his plants, "I don't know how people can have the guts to say it's a bad year for tomatoes."

The largest tomato on this year's vines is about six inches long. Coviello and friend Paul Suszczynski and Coviello guess it weighs over two pounds and is still growing. Another single vine holds between 20 and 30 tomatoes that have yet to ripen.

The ripe Rose of Italy tomatoes already picked this year are each over four inches long. Their taste is subtle and meaty, not too sweet, with delicious thick juices that pour out like nectar.

The largest tomato from their 2012 crop weighed 2 pounds, 5.2 ounces and measured 5.75 inches by 6.5 inches.

Brothers Pete and Mike, who started the Coviello Bros. nursery and garden center in Madison, named their Rose of Italy tomatoes after their mother Rosaria. For over 10 years the brothers have saved the seeds from their best tomatoes for planting the next year, and created their own breed of heirloom tomato over time.