
A cause for celebration: Hundreds of Heirloom Tomato Starts
Does anyone really NEED 21 tomato plants? The answer is: OF COURSE!
If you are obsessed with having dee-lish heirloom tomatoes at your fingertips, you will want to track down Tomatomania, the largest spring sale of tomato seedlings around. It is a grassroots endeavor; the brainchild of landscape designer and Tomato addict Scott Daigre.

Shopping for the very best of heirloom tomato starts with Tomatomania founder Scott Daigre
I remember meeting Scott in 2006 at the Northwest Flower & Garden Showin Seattle. I’m not really sure why a California boy was up in Seattle, but it was certainly a treat to meet him at one of my book signings. Little did I know ( I find I am saying that a lot these days ) that I would soon be Scott’s neighbor in Ventura Co., and moreover, a customer of one of his Tomatomania events.
A couple of folks, fellow Garden Writers, have kept Tomatomania on my radar. Kate Karem, formerly Cottage Living’s gardening editor and also a former LA resident, told me she used to be involved in Scott’s annual plant sales. While reading Orange Co.-based garden writer Cindy McNatt’s new “Dirt du Jour” blog, I was recently reminded to check out Scott’s event. In fact, it was a link on Cindy’s blog that pointed me to the very first Ventura County “Tomatomania” event at Otto & Sons’ nursery in the agricultural town of Fillmore, about 20 miles north of my place.

My buddy Alex, tomato fan extraordinaire
Since ours is a household of foodies, including children who have very definite opinions on all things culinary, I was psyched to again grow heirloom tomatoes (I haven’t planted any since leaving Seattle – and that’s a pretty tough tomato-growing climate). Whether someone needs as many as Alex and I acquired last Saturday is a matter of opinion.
We have room in our raised beds, so we’re going to go for it. Scott advises that backyard gardeners space tomato plants at 2-foot intervals. We can make it work, I’m sure.
The nursery sale was organized with a logical A to Z display. The only problem is that every single tomato looked healthy and vigorous; the fruit photos and descriptions made our mouths water (or at least piqued our curiosity).

Pick it, Slice it, Salt it, Eat it - Simple!
The wagon Alex pulled for me up quickly. We loved running into Scott, he of the bright red hat, lime green shirt, and turquoise Tomatomania T-shirt. The ambassador of tomatoes is on a roll. His sales now crisscross the US and he has plans to add a few more states in 2010 (even in Texas, he says).
Here is a list of the plants we brought home in 4-inch pots. For $4 each, ours was a good investment. The neighbors are already putting in their requests for our “extras” come harvest-time:
- Cherokee Chocolate: Mahogany-colored variety; excellent flavor, large fruit
- Black Krim: Originally from Krim on the Black Sea of Russia; slightly flattened shape, dark-reddish mahogany color
- Aunt Ruby’s German Green: Pink-blushed interior; green pleated exterior; handed down from Aunt Ruby Arnold, Greenville, Tennessee
- Copia: Named in honor of the American Center for Food, Wine and Arts in Napa, California; a stabilized cross of ‘Green Zebra’ and ‘Mauve Stripe’; fine-lined golden yellow and red striped fruit
- Beam’s Yellow Pear; Pomodoro; La Roma; Sungold Cherry
- Sugary: Sweet, cherry-sized, oval-shaped
- Berkeley Tie-Die: no description necessary! The name alone demanded that we plant this one
- Black Zebra: Perfectly round, 1-1/2-2 inch fruits with deep, dark red to caramel-colored skin beneath dark green-mahogany streaks; smoky-sweet flavor
Pink Accordian
- Kellogg’s Breakfast: Round, yellow-orange fruit
- Hillbilly Potato-Leaf: From West Virginia (natch); mild flavored beefsteak fruit that weights up to 2 lbs; orange-yellow streaked and mottled shades
- Omar’s Lebanese: 1-2 pound pink beefsteak
- Banana Legs: 4-inch mini banana-shaped, brilliant yellow fruit; fun for kids