Welcome to the Land of Misfit Veggies

By Danielle Nyland.

A group of the Bright's tomonsters.

Eugene “O’Gene” Bright of Waynesburg is famous for his wacky vegetables. His vegetables, especially his peppers and tomatoes – or ‘tomonsters’ as they are affectionately called thanks to their noses, horns, and faces, are something to be seen. In our recent bizarre veggie contest, O’Gene’s veggies took the $25 prize thanks to their unique look and quantity.

A bell pepper from the garden.

O’Gene, who grew up in Aleppo, started gardening about 4 years ago, after moving to their house in Waynesburg. The house had a flowerbed, “but we aren’t really flower people,” said O’Gene. “So we decided to use the bed to grow vegetables.”

“Last year was the freakiest. People would ask if we lived in a nuclear power plant, the Twilight Zone or used Viagra to grow the vegetables because of all the crazy ways they turn out,” said Denise, O’Gene’s wife.

Denise saw the GreeneScene’s post on Instagram asking for people to send in pictures of their crazy vegetables “and decided to give it a whack. I’d already made him Facebook famous for his veggies.”

The Bright’s usually grow bell peppers, spring onions, cucumber, and tomatoes – always tomatoes. “We always do tomatoes – they’re my favorite thing,” said O’Gene. “We lived in Texas for a while and it was hard to find good tomatoes south of Virginia.” Their biggest tomonster so far weighed just less than 2 pounds.

The Bright's in front of their garden, with their snowman tomato.

The Brights only grow things that they like and know they are going to use. They use their veggies to make salsa, pickled peppers – from a recipe O’Gene’s mother had – and more. What vegetables they can’t use, they share with friends.

A bell pepper from the garden.

The variety of heirlooms that seem to make the strangest shapes are the Oxhearts, raised from seeds that are part of a 75-year-old line. “Heirlooms aren’t perfect,” O’Gene says. “It’s not that rare to see them grow in weird shapes, but you won’t find those ones at the grocery store.”

Congratulations O’Gene and Denise Brightand thank you for sending in the pictures of all your misfit veggies. Keep growing them strange!

The 'Power to the People' pepper.