Tomato lovers, rejoice. Tomatomania! is back

Have your winter salads of greens and extra greens gotten so uninteresting that you simply’ve stooped to purchasing tasteless hot-house tomatoes simply so as to add a little coloration to your plate?

Assistance is on the way in which. Tomatomania! is gearing up for 2022 with 200-plus types of tomatoes and practically 100 sorts of peppers, on sale beginning Feb. 25 at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar.

This annual touring present will go to 9 SoCal places this yr between San Diego and Santa Barbara counties, with many types persevering with to be accessible on the venues by means of Might.

February might be chilly for planting tomatoes in inland components of Southern California, says Tomatomania! proprietor Scott Daigre, however not for the extra temperate coastal areas, the place frost is never a priority.

Tomatoes are a warm-season crop, which like peppers and basil, want soil temperatures above 60 levels Fahrenheit to actually begin rising with gusto. However for those who’re aching to get going in your summer season bounty, Daigre says your seedlings can be simply positive of their 4-inch pots for just a few weeks, till the soil warms up. Simply maintain them watered in a heat, sunny spot.

For those who’re rising tomatoes in containers, you will get a head begin, as a result of the soil will get hotter a lot faster in pots. Simply make certain to decide on a big container for every plant, ideally not less than 24 inches deep, so the roots have loads of room to develop, and maintain the pot in a location that will get not less than six to eight hours of solar a day.

The largest problem with Tomatomania! is deciding which varieties to decide on. And boy, does Daigre have varieties to supply, in a rainbow of colours similar to:

• Bronze Torch, an elongated cherry selection and the 2022 tomato of the yr
• Saucy Mary, a stripy, lime-green early producer
• Paul Robeson, a blackish-red heirloom beefsteak selection
• Pinocchio, a deep-orange heirloom Roma selection with a protracted, pointy finish
• Momotaro, a flavorful pinkish-red Japanese hybrid

Bronze Torch, a hybrid named for its brick-red coloration striped in inexperienced and bronze, does properly within the floor or containers, Daigre mentioned, and produces yummy fruit in simply 65 days.

That’s a few of the standards wanted to be chosen tomato of the yr, he mentioned. “We wish to see good, stable manufacturing and taste, and this one tastes wonderful. I traveled with little bundles of this tomato final yr, asking folks what they thought, and jaws dropped and eyes opened vast as a result of this cherry [tomato] was so totally different and so good.”

One other bonus: Bronze Torch will begin producing in early spring and proceed into the autumn. “It saved moving into my backyard [in Ojai] endlessly,” Daigre mentioned. “I’ve made every little thing with them. … I roasted them and made salsas and salads. Technically, it’s a cherry tomato, nevertheless it doesn’t have the sugar stage {that a} Sungold has, so the flavour is extra complicated. It’s very distinctive.”

Roger’s Gardens has made selecting just a little simpler by itemizing many Tomatomania! varieties on its web site. Orders have to be picked up at its Corona del Mar retailer, but when that’s too far, you’ll be able to not less than get an concept of what’s coming to a venue close to you, Daigre mentioned.

The place to purchase Tomatomania!’s distinctive varieties

Listed below are the upcoming gross sales dates, listed by county. Observe that the majority venues (besides Fig Earth Provide) can have prolonged gross sales after their preliminary weekends, with fewer selections however nonetheless a big number of crops.

That was a giant lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, Daigre mentioned. Tomatomania!’s gross sales was once crowded occasions with workshops and lengthy traces. Tomato lovers nonetheless needed the selection however not the crowds throughout the pandemic, he mentioned, so Tomatomania! tailored by creating opening-weekend gross sales with 200-plus varieties after which providing a extra restricted choice for a number of weeks after.

Los Angeles County

March 11-13
Fig Earth Provide, 3577 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 9:30 a.m. to five p.m. (closes at 4 p.m. March 13).

March 18-20
Tapia Brothers Farm, 5251 Hayvenhurst Ave., Encino, 9 a.m. to five p.m.

Orange County

Feb. 25-March 6
Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Street, Corona del Mar, 9 a.m. to five p.m.

San Diego County

March 5-6
Mission Hills Nursery, 1525 Fort Stockton Drive, San Diego, 8 a.m. to five p.m.

Santa Barbara County

April 2
Seaside Gardens, 3700 Through Actual, Carpinteria, 9 a.m. to five p.m.

Ventura County

March 11-12
Otto & Sons Nursery, 1835 E. Guiberson Street, Fillmore, 8 a.m to 4 p.m.

March 25-27
Underwood Farm Middle, 3370 Sundown Valley Street, Moorpark, 9 a.m. to five p.m.

April 1
Wachter’s Hay & Grain, 114 S. Montgomery St., Ojai.

April 9-10
Underwood Farm Market, 5696 E. Los Angeles Ave., Somis, 9 a.m. to five p.m.