On 13 Jul 2003 23:07:57 GMT, Bert Hyman wrote:

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

We've never grown anything edible before beyond a few herbs, sticking
solely to decorative plantings, but this year completely on a whim I
picked up two tomato plants at the garden center.

Beyond watering them, the only thing we did to it was pinch off the first
batch of flowers that showed up, because my wife recalled reading
somewhere that you should do that.

Now, both plants are nearly 6 feet tall, with stems the diameter of my
thumb or larger, and both are starting to produce tomatoes.

Other tomato plants that I can see in the neighborhood are nowhere near
so robust; should we have done something to the plant to slow its growth,
or should we be happy with the results so far?

I have 12 plants 6 ft. or taller. You don't have to pinch off
anything. Just water and pick tomatoes.