BETHLEHEM, Pa. — He’s not Italian, but the way Bob Kocon speaks heirloom tomato, you’d never know it.
“Corleone.” “Chilo della Garfagnana.” “Sicilian Godfather.”
Bravo! Uno momento — there's one more.
“Pomodoro Cuore Antico De Acqui Terme,” he rattles off.
It translates to "heirloom heart tomato from Acqui Terme," a town in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy where sits a delightful resort.
In the kitchen, that name translates to a beefsteak tomato variety good for sauce. Mangia!
Not much for standing still, Kocon, a west Bethlehem backyard gardener, walked and talked quickly, eager to take me on a guided tour of his well-planned plot.
Watching from afar
Full disclosure: At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I’ve been observing Kocon’s tomato garden from afar for the past three summers. I pass it on the way home from work most days.
The first time I saw it, it was well-established in mid-summer. Big bushy green tomato plants out of the corner of my eye.
I almost slammed on my brakes to stop and take a closer look, but there’s no parking right there, so I had to talk myself into waiting until the next day to see it again.
It’s the simple thrill of seeing the pots of dirt lined up in order, on hooks and on the ground, yielding little peek-a-boo stems with a few dainty leaves, and then in a blink turn 2 feet tall.
I’ve ogled the cherry tomatoes in clusters on the other side of his hurricane fence and have had to remind the kid in me that it would not be OK to stop and sample the sugary sweetness.
I love tomatoes. My Italian grandfather grew them sky-high in his backyard in Martins Creek, a small town along Route 611 just past Easton, where warm and lovely Italians settled when they emigrated.
It isn’t summer until I’ve had a home-grown-tomato sandwich, on Italian bread, with mayo, salt and pepper. I digress.
A dance among the plants
“Don’t trip. Be careful,” Kocon said in late May, when I had finally gotten up the nerve to park nearby and walk up to his door to ask if I could write a story about him.
I knocked, and the door opened. He slid down the top half of the storm door and peered at me through the screen. I introduced myself, admitted my obsession, asked if he’d oblige me.
“Sure,” he said. “Meet me around back.”
As I headed off the porch and down the side walkway, I thought, 'What if this goes bad? Oh the irony. Who’s been watching whom? Besides, it's about tomatoes and this reporter follows her gut.'
The friendly gardener and I shook hands, and the next hour and a half flew by.
Like an awkward dance, he meandered through the precise rows of pots of soil, each one placed methodically and many already sprouting pretty young stems, and I did my best to follow.
“I don’t have everything planted yet," he said. "I’m still getting things set up. It is very involved.”
'Out here all day'
Kocon’s goal is to grow big heirloom tomatoes. Bigger than the year before and as many varieties as he can find.
He tries different ones each year, ordering seeds from as far away as France and the Galapagos Islands, a cluster located near the equator.
“My tomatoes are Italian," he said. "They’re rare.”
“It’s therapeutic. I’ve been out here since 5:45 this morning, and I’ll be out here all day working on things.”Bob Kocon
He said he starts planting in his basement in late-February and March.
The day we met, he still had at least a dozen basil and tomato plants to transfer from an upper porch — where he has a great view of the garden and the Fourth of July fireworks.
“I had 40 extra plants last year of one kind,” Kocon said. “They did so well I sold some. One lady came and took nine."
The secret to his tomato success is fertilizer. Twice a week.
“You have to feed them,” Kocon said. “They’re living things. They need food. It’s not just water and sunlight.”
Kocon said he stocked up on fertilizer before the Ukraine war because Russia makes 60% of the potash fertilizer in the world.
“I try to use all organic,” he said.
Miracle Grow brand has an organic edibles product that Kocon got from Lowe’s. He also makes his own fertilizer tea bags, combining a cup of Dr. Earth vegetable fertilizer, and a cup of earthworm castings.
He reuses mesh bags from the produce department at work to store the concoction.
It’s easy to see how much this guy loves gardening.
“It’s therapeutic,” he said. “I’ve been out here since 5:45 this morning, and I’ll be out here all day working on things.”
'Dolce fresca'
A meat cutter for Shoprite and in retail for 38 years, Kocon said he has learned to plan his time wisely around a sporadic schedule. If he had a job with steady hours, he said, he’d already be finished planting.
He said family used to rent a gardening plot near Cedarbrook nursing home near Dorney Park.
“My dad always had a garden. My brother used to be a landscaper. I have a cousin up in the coal region who is in forestry. It’s in my blood."Bob Kocon
“My dad always had a garden," Kocon said. "My brother used to be a landscaper. I have a cousin up in the coal region who is in forestry. It’s in my blood."
He spends his free time researching tomatoes and the care of, reading online articles and watching YouTube videos. Besides fertilizing, one tip he’s learned is about technique.
“When you water them, don’t let the water splash dirt onto the tomatoes. Bacteria will ruin them,” he said.
He said he also knows to place a variety of “helpers” around the pots of tomatoes. Every plant has a purpose and a place: Candy onions to the right, strawberries up front. Pots of "elegant ice lavender," which Kocon said keeps bugs away.
"One day I want to dry the flowers and put into these little mesh bags I have, about a hundred, to sell," he said.
Thyme, rosemary and marigolds sit in pots between and around the tomatoes. Anything with a big smell, Kocon said, the squirrels don’t like.
He also has three kinds of mint growing: strawberry, mojito and chocolate. A known invader, mint must be grown in pots where it will stay put. And let's not forget about the purple basil.
"It's Dolce fresca," he said.
'I like them all'
Stepping to the rear of the garden, the dance continued.
I noticed many birds fluttering excitedly back and forth over suet cages on a tall double shepherd's hook.
"Notice, I put them on the opposite far side of the garden, far away from the tomatoes, to keep the birds away," he said.
But with all the care and attention he pays, Kocon said he has no favorite variety of the red fruit used in sauces, stews and Caprese salads.
“I like them all," he said, "except cherry tomatoes. You get too many. One year I was flicking them into the other end of the yard for the birds to eat. They crack if you don't eat them fast enough (the cherry tomatoes. Not the birds.)"
Onward.
“The great thing about growing a beefsteak is, you can control how many you grow," he said. "How? Around the megabloom. Pinch off everything around it so that all the energy goes to the megabloom.”
A megabloom is several blooms that fuse together and are known to make up to a 10-pound plum tomato, a world record. The seeds come from Secret Seed Cartel online.
Look for the Domingo if you want something to brag about. Large fruit of 300 to 800 grams, it's a round beefsteak type and strongly ribbed in the upper part.
It's another Heirloom variety with which Kocon has had success, originating from a Tuscan valley in Italy.
Using what's already there
Where he spends on heirloom seeds and shipping, Kocon saves on the rest of the supplies. He has a cat and uses a dehumidifier — opportunity not to be overlooked.
"I save the big tubs and the empty jugs, and I stick them in the middle of the garden to catch rainwater," he said.
The all-black (black keeps heat in; tomatoes love heat), thick plastic pots, he got for free from a friend who used to be in the garden business.
He uses last year’s dirt in the pots, meticulously cutting out the old stems and roots when growing season ends, and stacks the pots one atop another, off the floor, on wooden pallets.
They store in his garage over winter, so that they’re ready to go and close to the garden once it's time to plant again.
Also, grapes
The dance coming to an end, Kocon couldn't help but lead me to a few of the other apples of his eye.
Tomatoes his pride and joy, Kocon also makes time to prune low-maintenance perennials, roses and hydrangeas that surround his home and property, giving it a natural look.
"One day, I'm going to make wine with them."Bob Kocon
As we parted ways, somewhere between the tomatoes and their guardian plants, and the Rose of Sharon and lilies beyond the birdfeeders, I noticed something we hadn't yet discussed that captured my attention.
Grapevines.
And they already were producing tiny fruit.
"It's a blue grape, and a Lakemont," he said. "My dad had a 30-by-30 foot grapevine in his garden on the west side of Allentown.
"One day, I'm going to make wine with them."
Happy Father's Day to all.
