Intelligence is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is knowing that tomatoes don’t belong in a fruit salad. On the third Friday of each month, for more than three years, members of the Long Beach Garden Club have met at the Long Beach Public Library to share more plant-based knowledge.
The club, an official program presented by the library, was created in 2023 by librarian Nicole Menzzasalma. It began with three members, but has blossomed into a group of 30 local gardeners. “We trade plants a lot,” said Jovin Weinstock, a Long Beach resident who has been with the club since its early days. “We trade seeds often, and we trade information about problems.”
The club tends a community garden, behind the Magnolia Senior Center, working in partnership with Island Harvest’s Giving Garden program to collect fresh produce to donate to local food charities. The club’s garden consists of six raised beds and several containers with an array of basil, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes and more.
“The Giving Garden gave us about 200 plants for our community garden,” Menzzasalma explained. “Anything that I couldn’t fit in the community garden went to people in the community. Any produce that we receive from our community garden goes right to Long Beach Soup Kitchen.”
Menzzasalma, a member of the city’s environmental advisory board, announced a recent windfall for the club: It is scheduled to receive up to $400 in funds to be used for garden-building material — from soil and seeds to irrigation supplies and gardening tools — the grant will come from the Burpee Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Burpee Seeds and Plants, a Philadelphia-based business. Menzzasalma revealed the news on Aug 21, when the garden club hosted its third annual Tomatomania contest, to which local growers bring their biggest, smallest, ugliest and most tasty tomatoes for a friendly competition. More than 25 participants showed up.
The event took place in the library’s main auditorium, as the 1978 sci-fi parody “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” played on a dropdown screen, adding whimsical ambience. Lido Beach resident Sheryl Beck easily captured the ugliest tomato award for a knurled, but healthy, fruit, while Elizabeth Pryke, of Long Beach, won the award for smallest tomato with a fully mature fruit that wasn’t much larger than a blueberry. For tastiest tomato treat, Beverly Hansel-Silberstang, also of Long Beach, collected the most votes with a tomato, corn and avocado medley.
Oceanside resident Marsha Volgyi had never attended a garden club meeting, but entered, and won, in the biggest tomato division. “A friend of mine invited me, so I came,” Volgyi said. “I had a tomato that I didn’t know what to do with, so she said, ‘Bring it.’” Volgyi has been an avid gardener for roughly four years. “Mostly vegetables,” she added. “Then I planted a raspberry bush, and I said, let’s see what happens.”
Tomatomania was also the first garden club meeting For Kristen Donovan, of Island Park, Volgyi’s persuasive friend. A sixth-grade teacher in the East Rockaway school district and a home gardener who has focused on fruit trees and vegetables for 25 years, Donovan took home an honorable mention award for tastiest tomato recipe for her salsa-style combination of homegrown tomatoes and peaches. She said she plans to encourage a new crop of green thumbs. “I actually just got a grant in my district,” Donovan said, “so I’m opening a community garden at my school.”
During the meeting, while votes were being tallied, Menzzasalma announced that the club, which regularly meets during daytime hours, will begin offering evening meetings on a quarterly basis. The change was enough to convince Donovan to add the meetings to her schedule. “I’ll be joining because I work during the day,” she said. “So I’ll be able to come on their nighttime sessions.”
This spring, the library offered hundreds of free tomato seedlings, as well as more than 100 eggplants, nasturtium, zinnias and other starter plants to inspire prospective gardeners. Year-round, the library maintains a propagation station with clippings to encourage even more homegrown plants. At the reference desk, members can also utilize the seed library. Cardholders can check out two seed packets per week, to grow anything from basil or Brussels sprouts to zucchini or milkweed — the last a critical food source for pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, which are essential partners in a healthy garden.