Community Corner
How Are Your Tomatoes?
No need to go to the supermarket to make a great summer salad, just talk to Swampscott's Francisco Karmely, he's growing all kids of vegetables and spices in his backyard.
If you’re looking to make a great summer salad, Swampscott’s Francisco Karmely is the man to see. His backyard behind his home on Muriel Road is loaded with tomato plants, cucumbers, zucchini, all kinds of peppers, jalapeños and bananas, and some cilantro, peppermint and rosemary to spice things up.
Karmely is originally from Croatia and came the U. S. by way of Venezuela in 1958. He came to this country during the Eisenhower Administration and had the good fortune to attend a rally in Maine with president-to-be John F. Kennedy.
Karmely came to Swampscott 1972 with his wife Maria, a homemaker, and settled in his current home on Muriel Road. Karmely and his wife have two children; Ivo who graduated SHS in 1986 and played on the Big Blue football team currently lives with his wife Jennifer in Las Vegas.
Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Maritza, the Karmely’s daughter graduated from Swampscott High School in 1989 and was co-captain of the girls’ basketball team. She lives in Medford with her husband Dwight.
Karmely’s garden is in two sections; 25 tomato plants growing on his back porch, and rows and rows of vegetables and spices growing in the backyard.
Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“The best time to plant is in late May, when you’re pretty sure you’ve seen the last frost,” Karmely said. “The tomato plants are pretty hearty, they can take the cold and flourish, but I worry about the others if it gets too cold.”
There are rows and rows of plants, the spices on the Muriel Road side, the cilantro and peppers in the middle and the cucumbers and zucchini on the Charlotte Road side.
“I like everything about my garden, I look forward to coming home from work and getting out there,” Karmely said. “It’s very relaxing to work in my garden.”
Karmely runs a painting contracting company with two fulltime employees, doing jobs all over the North Shore.
“It will be time to pick everything pretty soon, I enjoy that, “ Karmely said.
Karmely and his wife use just about everything he grows, and he gives out the rest to family and friends in the area.
“It’s nice, I share what I love with others, and all the food I grow is organic and very healthy,” Karmely said.
“You come home, it’s been a long day, and I get to go outside and really jump into my growing, I’ve had this garden back here since we moved into the house almost 40 years ago.”
“The parsley is ready to pick, the cilantro, the cucumbers and zucchini will be ready any day, the tomatoes still have some time to go,” Karmely said.
“The tomatoes are almost always last, it’s the end of the growing time when I gather them up, then I just get ready to start all over again,” Karmely said. “After the tomatoes, I’ll plant some spinach, spinach works well in cold weather.”
Karmely gets his garden going by planting seeds and getting small vegetable plants that have already started growing and planting them in his backyard.
“I make a really good tomato sauce, a couple of versions really, regular and spicy,” Karmely said. “I make a great hot sauce with cucumbers and peppers that people really like, you can put that right on main dishes.”
I chewed on a stevia leaf and it was sweet as can be, just like having a piece of candy. Stevia is just one of over 240 species of herbs in the sunflower family and grow all over North and South America, and on Muriel Road too.
