{"id":206335,"date":"2026-03-05T23:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206335\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:33:08","slug":"tomatomania-brings-hundreds-of-rare-varieties-to-sd-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206335\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomatomania brings hundreds of rare varieties to SD County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Tomatomania will be at Mission Hills Nursery this Saturday and Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Scott Daigre)<\/p>\n

For Scott Daigre, it all started with a grandfather and a row of tomatoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to have a garden like my grandpa,\u201d said Daigre, the Ojai-based producer and owner of Tomatomania<\/a>, a traveling tomato plant sale that has grown into one of the most celebrated horticultural events in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daigre\u2019s grandfather treated tomato growing \u201clike religion,\u201d planting the same variety, in the same row, season after season for 50 years on his property. A young Daigre absorbed it all. While most teenagers had little interest in the garden, Daigre did not waver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t plant tomatoes when you\u2019re 14, most people, but I did,\u201d he said. \u201cI had my first garden when I was 5.\u201d<\/p>\n

That early passion eventually led Daigre to community garden plots in Los Angeles in the 1990s, and later to a nursery where Tomatomania had been established as a local event. When the nursery closed, he refused to let the concept die. In 2001, he took the event on the road \u2013 first to Encino. <\/p>\n

Twenty-five years later, Tomatomania has staged events in six states and 35 cities. It operates like a band on tour, rolling into cities across the country each spring, complete with merch and a devoted following. San Diego County has been a tour stop for more than 10 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cTomatomania is an opportunity for gardeners to choose from the largest and most unique collection of tomatoes offered anywhere in any retail situation,\u201d Daigre said of the whole operation, geared squarely on the home gardener market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Where a typical nursery might stock 15 to 20 tomato varieties, Tomatomania routinely triples or quadruples that number. In San Diego County this weekend, visitors can expect to browse between 75 and 95 varieties across two events, with plants available in 4-inch and 1-gallon sizes \u2013 no seeds, all ready to go into the ground. That range is part of the appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re showcasing tomatoes that were introduced in the 1800s and tomatoes that will be new this year,\u201d Daigre said. \u201cPeople can feel like they got the latest, greatest thing in tomato fashion or they\u2019re growing an absolute antique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomatomania\u2019s seeds are sourced from major commercial producers and passionate backyard hybridizers alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really interesting because you have these very serious people in places like Ukraine, British Columbia and Mississippi,\u201d Daigre said. \u201cThat\u2019s how diverse this universe is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tomatomania\u2019s San Diego County visit includes stops at two different venues with staggered dates.<\/p>\n

The Water Conservation Garden<\/a> in El Cajon hosts Tomatomania Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7. The six-acre educational garden will have docents on hand throughout the weekend, and area master gardeners will staff an informational table Saturday. Mission Hills Nursery<\/a> follows with its event Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8.<\/p>\n

Daigre tailors each event to its location and audience. Coastal microclimates near the beach call for different variety selections than the warmer, more inland conditions of El Cajon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sculpt the events for the site, for the audience, for the zone,\u201d he said. Both events are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The centerpiece of this year\u2019s events is Tomatomania\u2019s ninth annual Tomato of the Year: Sart Roloise, a Belgian-bred, open-pollinated beefsteak variety that has been turning heads in the tomato world for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a yellow mid-sized beefsteak with a blue collar,\u201d Daigre said.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/a>Tomatomania\u2019s 2026 \u201cTomato of the Year\u201d Sart Roloise. (Photo courtesy of Scott Daigre)<\/p>\n

That blue collar is the result of anthocyanin \u2013 the same pigment found in blueberries and eggplant \u2013 expressed on the tomato\u2019s shoulders and in deep indigo streaks across its golden skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve trialed it off and on for five or six years and it\u2019s been a winner,\u201d Daigre said about its distinguished honor, \u201cand last year it was especially impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to what makes San Diego County a standout tomato-growing region, Daigre doesn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pure and simple, the weather,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have a long sunny growing season and the beautiful part for us, of course, is that we can plant in the spring, manage and harvest all summer, and if we planted the right varieties, they\u2019ll keep going into the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

He notes that microclimates vary dramatically across the county \u2013 beach communities and inland valleys call for thoughtful variety selection \u2013 but the region\u2019s extended season is a significant advantage that gardeners can maximize with the right plant choices.<\/p>\n

For San Diego gardeners heading into planting season now, Daigre has direct advice: start with the soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t go buy the cheap stuff and fill a pot and throw a tomato in it and expect that it\u2019s going to work,\u201d he said. \u201cThe premium thing that we need to do in Southern California is make sure our soils are healthy and vibrant to support that plant growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than two decades on the road, Daigre sees many of the same faces \u2013 \u201ctomatomaniacs\u201d \u2013 who return each year with garden journals, harvest photos and effusive gratitude. In each one, he sees a chance to pass something on, just as his grandfather once did for him. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou put a tomato in the ground and you\u2019re a farmer,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a farmer, you have responsibilities and you have challenges. Everybody gets a little piece of what it takes to make us food. It\u2019s a beautiful exercise for people to go through.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more information, go to www.tomatomania.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tomatomania will be at Mission Hills Nursery this Saturday and Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Scott Daigre) For Scott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[13799,13244,74,76,75,95241],"class_list":["post-206335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-gardening","tag-mission-hills","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-water-conservation-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}