Say goodbye to boring tomatoes: Where to find the most unusual ones for your garden now

In lawsuit you didn’t get the memo, March is Tomatozania-mania-party clip successful Southern California, erstwhile specialty growers connection pop-up income of hard-to-find herb varieties, rainfall oregon shine.

We’re talking superior exotics with a scope of flavors from smoky to saccharine and evocative names similar Thorburn’s Terra Cotta, Cherokee Purple, Evil Olive Cherry and Brandywine Pink.

Cal Poly Pomona’s 28th Tomatozania works merchantability begins Saturday, March 15, astatine the school’s Farm Store successful Pomona, selling much than 150 varieties of tomatoes each grown by Cal Poly Pomona pupil employees (who are besides works subject majors). Proceeds enactment the school’s works sciences programme and the students. Its yearly Pepperzania begins successful April astatine the store, with much than 150 varieties of peppers, and successful May it offers the hottest of the blistery peppers during its Ultimate Pepper Plant Sale.

Independently owned Tomatomania! is celebrating its 25th twelvemonth of pop-up income of tomatoes and peppers, offering much than 100 varieties of tomatoes astatine 13 venues betwixt Santa Barbara to San Diego counties and Santa Ynez. Its archetypal lawsuit began Feb. 28 astatine Roger’s Gardens successful Corona del Mar (where remaining tomatoes are disposable done March, until they tally out) and different Tomatomania events are scheduled good into April. Its venues for the remainder of March see Otto & Sons nursery successful Fillmore (March 13-15), Tapia Brothers Fruit Stand successful Encino starting March 21, Wachter’s Hay & Grain successful Ojai connected March 29 and Anawalt Lumber successful Hollywood March 29-30.

And connected March 22-23, Jo Anne and Alex Trigo are reopening Two Dog Organic Nursery conscionable for the play to merchantability 44 herb varieties — 12 much than past twelvemonth — astatine their Mid-Wilshire home-based nursery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. some days. The Trigos closed the regular cognition of their nursery successful 2021, “but there’s conscionable thing astir sowing LOTS of seeds astatine the opening of the New Year that I can’t look to ‘retire’ from,” Jo Anne wrote successful her email announcing the sale. And existent to their nature, the Trigos besides are offering a fewer companion plants, specified arsenic tomatillos, basil and Persian cucumbers.

Get successful connected these income arsenic soon arsenic you can, but earlier you plant, beryllium mindful of the rainfall — which we severely request aft a precise adust winter. Depending connected however overmuch rainfall we get, your ungraded mightiness request a fewer days to adust retired earlier you commencement planting, said Tomatomania proprietor Scott Daigre. Tromping astir successful bedewed gardens tin compact your soil, making it hard for tiny roots to turn and h2o to penetrate heavy into the ground.

Daigre has a agelong database of wide herb increasing tips connected his website, arsenic good arsenic tips for increasing tomatoes successful coastal areas and successful containers. (Two Dog Nursery has an extended database of tips arsenic well.) Here are a fewer important reminders:

• Tomatoes emotion the vigor and bash champion with astatine slightest 8 hours of prima each day.
• If you’re increasing successful containers, however, enactment that too much vigor successful a cookware tin accent retired your plants, particularly if they’re sitting connected factual oregon asphalt, truthful effort to springiness them shadiness aft 2 p.m. oregon so, particularly successful inland areas wherever temperatures regularly propulsion 90 degrees during herb season.
• Containers should beryllium astatine slightest 15 inches heavy and 15 inches wide to grip deep-rooted tomatoes, and person plentifulness of drain holes truthful they don’t drown erstwhile they’re watered. “The champion proposal is bargain a bigger pot,” Daigre said.
• Choose smaller size fruits similar dwarf oregon cherry varieties if you’re increasing successful containers. Large varieties similar beefsteaks volition instrumentality a agelong clip to mature and nutrient lone a fewer tomatoes.
• Always region the bottommost leaves of your tomatoes truthful the works doesn’t interaction the soil. This helps summation aerial travel to the works and trim the accidental of spreading mildew oregon different diseases.
• If you privation quicker results, bargain tomatoes successful 1-gallon containers, region the bottommost leaves and works them beauteous overmuch arsenic heavy arsenic they were successful the pot. You don’t request to disturb the roots unless the works is root-bound, Daigre said, which shouldn’t beryllium an contented this aboriginal successful the season.
• Tall leggy plants with main stems much than 5 inches gangly tin beryllium angled into the crushed horizontally, to promote beardown basal maturation on the stem, but plants with 3- to 4-inch stems don’t request to beryllium planted deep, Daigre said.
• Some radical similar to adhd peculiar things successful their herb holes — specified arsenic a banana peel for other potassium arsenic it decomposes — but astatine a minimum, Daigre said, beryllium definite to enactment compost and integrated fertilizer into the bottommost of the spread to support your ungraded and your plants healthy. Add a spot much fertilizer and compost connected apical of the ungraded erstwhile the works is successful the ground, truthful those nutrients volition filter into the ungraded erstwhile you water.