Mr Travassaros said he did nothing special with the 1.19kg red monster he found in his large vegetable patch and hoped to better it next year.

“I’ve grown a gramma you could hardly lift, but I didn’t know they (tomatoes) grew that big,” he said.

“I didn’t do anything. They just grew and grew.”

The “brother” and “sister” of the biggest tomato were nothing to sneeze at either, both at least twice the size of your average Grosse Lisse.

“A Greek man in Sydney grew them, gave it to my brother, and he gave a plant to me. I could’ve grown bigger, but I’m going to keep the seeds and give it a go next year. We will eat this one after I take the seeds,” he said. 

Mr Travassaros lives in East Tamworth, but has a vegetable plot in King George V Ave where he said good soil was the only reason he could think of for his large vegetable growing feats.

“It’s my playground there,” he said. He’s also grown large squash, pumpkins and watermelons. He said his grandchildren Chloe and Yianni help out in the school holidays when they visit from Brisbane.

Mr Travassaros has been growing vegetables on King George Ave for 20 years for his family and said he’d always grown vegetables in the backyard before he retired and took on the large plot.

“They’re beautiful,” he said.

The Gunnedah Tomato Competition is on January 12 but Mr Travassaros said he wouldn’t enter, but might next year.