Tomato crazy

Q: Tomatomania celebrates tomatoes of course, but what does the event actually look like?

A: It’s not a festival in the sense that it does not have different vendors selling different things. I often have people come to Tomatomania events and go, “What, you don’t have any tomatoes to taste?” And this is March 2 in California, and we say, “well, no.” This is not tomato season yet. So we have to gently remind people that Tomatomania is all about the home gardener and growing the wonderful and rare and exotic classic seedlings. That’s what Tomatomania is about. We put together an event, and we put all of these varieties together that we’re so excited about. We lay them out, they’re all alphabetical, and there’s information about each one. I surround myself with a great team of Tomatomaniacs. Whether they are former nursery people or home gardeners, they are all people who know their stuff. It takes 30 people to run my biggest event.
 

Q: What can people expect when they arrive?

A: It’s not a small undertaking. When people arrive at an event, they have all these seedlings to choose from and learn about, which kind of blows most people’s minds. The smallest amount of varieties we generally have at an event is 75 to 100, and at the big events, there are 300 plus. I always chuckle, and say, “Well, I’ve done my job. I blew your mind.” Tomatomania blows your mind in terms of what’s available for the home gardener, and that’s exciting.
 

Q: What else do you offer at events other than seedlings?

A: We have containers, soil, fertilizer, cages, books and little knickknacks. So we round it out and do this whole tomato experience that hopefully everybody can come to and get everything they need for the season.
 

Q: How long has the event existed?

A: Tomatomania is the brainchild of a good friend of mine. It started way back in the 1900’s [laughs], about 20 years ago. A good friend named Gary Jones, who owned what became a trend setting nursery in Pasadena [Hortus], created Tomatomania as a way to boost spring sales and excite gardeners in the spring time. I worked with Gary for four years after he started the event. I got there and because of my crazy love for tomatoes, I became of course immediately enamored with this event. I eventually became the event manager at the nursery. And it just became this huge phenomenon in a very short time. It started out as a Saturday event, and then it was a Thursday to Sunday event just because we couldn’t fit everyone in the parking lot. It became this great gig, and it made us all happy. And then the nursery closed a couple of years later [in 2001]. And there was no home for this event anymore, and I thought, let’s try this outside of that environment. We held our first event in 2001 outside of the nursery at a very popular classic Los Angeles farm. We didn’t have access to all of the people we had at the nursery on what was a very active customer base [according to a Los Angeles Times article, Hortus had 20,000 subscribers to its newsletter]. But we tried it, and it worked. In 2001, we had one event. Last year I had 16 events.
 

Q: When do the events take place, and what’s the preparation like?

A: Our window of actual planting time is very short. We operate right at the cusp of the season when it’s just right to plant, and because of that, we too have a very short season. I ramp up events pretty much March 1 to May 1. Prior to that, we are growing. I contract out for a lot of my seedlings. I’m buying seed, I’m placing seed. We’re monitoring varieties and sources and possibilities for the season long before our first event. Our season really begins mid-January in terms of the event production.
 

Q: Are they all in California?

A: In 2015 they were all in California. We have had events in five states. We’ve been to White Flower Farm in Morris, Conn., for a few years. We did a two-location nursery in Maryland and Virginia for a couple of years, and then we did a Boston-area event. We are a California company that kind of drifted over to the East Coast for a little bit. We’re trying to figure out if that’s an enjoyable thing or not. I have interest from time to time from people here and there. At this point we’re trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. Do we want to be 250 events all over the place? That’s something one person or even a small group of people can’t really run. Or do we want to have 10 great events in California? So that’s kind of the discussion on the table at the moment. We’re looking at products. Do we need brick and mortar? Do we need a site all spring?
 

Q: I know you said you grow some of your own tomatoes, but where do you get the rest?

A: The evolution of the event has inspired a huge demand. I have plant sources in Southern California that now have upwards of 75 varieties on their yearly list. I go to the tomatoes that nobody is growing and that you haven’t been able to find for a while. That’s what I look to in terms of my list and my plans for the spring. And I have five contract growers.
 

Q: Do these growers give you exclusivity? In other words, do they sell these rarer varieties only to you?

A: If I contract with a supplier to grow a particular variety, I’m sending them seed for something they don’t normally offer and they agree to reserve that entire supply for my sales.
 

Q: When I first heard of this event, I imagined something more like a fall pumpkin festival where you have finished pumpkins and pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice drinks. The idea of Tomatomania is that you start with the seeds, the inspiration, education and rare varieties you can’t find anywhere else to help gardeners jump start their growing season?

A: That’s precisely what we do. We’re showcasing possibilities at the beginning of the season, not the end. What I’m after as a business person is creating success, creating successful gardens. You don’t do that by slapping up a sales table and throwing tomatoes on it and saying, “that’ll be four bucks.” You do that by exciting people, by offering an incredible array of varieties, giving them all of the tools and by finishing it off with a great educational experience.
 

Q: How did the book come about?

A: Ten or 12 years ago we ran to the copy shop and copied 45 pages, folded it in the middle with a card stock cover and boom, added a logo and we were done. We had this little handbook we sold at events and people loved it. We did a self-published book four years ago. It was that book that was seen by an agent, who said we should do something big. And I said, “Thrilling, absolutely.” We took all of the information that we had handed out for years, and we rearranged it and added to it and most importantly added recipes because that’s always what everybody is looking for.

Tomatomania is a trademarked name and horticultural event. Visit tomatomania.com and contact Scott directly for information on how to become a Tomatomania partner.