Tom Hornyak of Middlesex Township poses with his 12-foot-tall cherry tomato plants.

Usually you don't need a stepladder to pick cherry tomatoes, but this has been an unusual year for gardener Tom Hornyak of Middlesex Township.

He's got six cherry tomato plants growing in two pots on his patio that are close to 12 feet tall each.

Hornyak has got the plants tied to a tripod attached to his house's rain gutter, and last week the plants started producing ripe tomatoes.

“I will probably get about 1,500 tomatoes. It's ridiculous how much they produce,” he said. “We give them away, we put them in salsas, but how many can you eat?”

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