Tomatomania Hits Santa Ynez Valley

I do a pretty decent job of growing chili peppers, fruit trees, and assorted greens in my backyard, but I’ve never had much luck with tomatoes, at least beyond the tiny, eat-them-right-away cherry varieties. I blame my lackluster record on what must be the wrong combination of soil, cool coastal weather, and the wrong tomato types.

But come the first weekend in April, I’ll no longer have to wonder why, so long as I make the trip to Santa Ynez to attend Tomatomania. The free two-day affair at Forage Florals features classes, seedling sales, a limited supply of samples, and, for kids on Sunday, the chance to plant a seedling in a pot and take it home for your garden.

Tomatomania is being co-hosted by farmer Mark Donofrio, who left the restaurant business — he co-owned Larchmont Grill in Hollywood — to build The Starter Farm as an organic, regenerative source for flowers near the Santa Ynez River. Adhering to the practice of permaculture, which balances agriculture with nature, Donofrio uses flowers and select produce to bring in the good bugs, ducks to eat the snails and slugs, roaming quail to cut down on the other bad bugs each summer, and crop rotation to keep the soils happy.

After the restaurant but before starting his own farm, Donofrio spent five years working for Tomatomania, which he called, “the most amazing and fun traveling tomato seedling sale in the country.” The tour starts in San Diego and then moves up the coast each spring. This will be its second year in Santa Ynez.

“When you go to a Tomatomania show, you will find the most unusual collection and hard-to-find varieties of tomato seedling in one place,” said Donofrio, noting that there are now 7,000 types of tomatoes on the planet, and that’s growing every year. “Our show tends to be a smaller show focused on varieties that I have tested out on our farm that work well in our county.”

As the grandson of Italian immigrants, tomato juice runs in Donofrio’s blood. “My grandfather taught myself and two brothers to grow our own food, and our grandmother would teach us how to transform them,” recalled Donofrio. “We rolled fresh pastas, fried eggplant, and canned produce for the winter.”

He loved spending time in their garden and was especially amazed by the tomatoes. “You could take this speck of a seed, plant it, it would grow, and then these green orbs would appear, ripen, and you could eat them!” he said. “It was magic to me.”

Upon moving to L.A., after some battles with squirrels, Donofrio eventually found an urban garden in the shadow of Dodger Stadium to keep his tomato habit alive. “Every place I’ve grown, I have felt my grandfather’s presence with me,” he shared. “I think he would be proud of what we are doing.”

How does he eat his tomatoes after all this experience? “I’m a purist — a bit of salt, pepper, eat,” said Donofrio, though he does like to make homemade gravy and a curry caprese. “But if I had one last tomato meal, it would be the sandwich my mother made for me as a child,” he explained. “Two slices of Wonder Bread, lots of Best Foods mayo (Hellmann’s on the East Coast), salt, pepper, and a slice of white American cheese. Then I would be in heaven.”

---

Tomatomania goes down at Forage Florals (1095 Meadowvale Rd., Santa Ynez) on April 6-7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with classes by Mark Donofrio at 1 p.m. each day. April 7 also offers kids the chance to plant a seedling and take it home. See tomatomania.com, forageflorals.com, and thestarterfarm.com.

What to Grow Where

The Starter Farm’s Mark Donofrio suggested the following tomato varieties for specific locations in Santa Barbara County.

On an acre of good soil in Santa Ynez Valley: A good mix of heirlooms (incredible but finicky) and hybrids (bred for disease resistance and productivity), and pick varieties that have a longer days to maturity schedule. Go for colors like green and white; they tend to have more tropical notes with higher levels of sweetness. Grab a great red slicer like Madame Marmande, a super productive French hybrid that reminds me of that “Old New Jersey” tomato taste. Diversify sizes: cherry tomatoes, meatier Sunchocola, or Bronze Torch, an elongated cherry. Saladettes like Pigletwillie’s French Black show savory notes, and Jaune Flamme has a melon-like flavor. Beefsteaks like the Cherokee series are the OGs of heirlooms: delicious with gnarly looks. Thorburn’s Terra-Cotta is prolific and beautiful.

Rocky backyard up Mission Canyon: Due to heat and critters, go for super productive tomatoes that have shorter days to maturity. It’s a numbers game sharing production with animals that have the same love for these beauties. Think the red Fourth of July that produces in 44 days, or try Tomatomania’s tomato of the year: Harvard Square, a bicolor perfect for a caprese. Prairie Fire is an elongated cherry that keeps pumping out the goodies.

Sandy dirt in seaside Carpinteria: Your challenge is the cool ocean breeze. Find a good south-facing area, maybe close to a wall, that can give the plants that extra boost. Provide plenty of air flow and trim leaves to fight fungus. Go for varieties that mature quickly. Lava Flow is one of my favorite sweeter tomatoes that could do well there. Add compost to your sandy soil and fertilize more as nutrients will leach out quicker in the soil.

Balcony of downtown S.B. apartment: Finding your sun will be the most important factor along with planting in a large enough container. Dwarf tomatoes are a new trend that fit in smaller spaces but are still productive. Last year’s tomato of the year, Melanie’s Ballet, would be perfect. Sweet Tangerine grows shorter and does well in a container. Washington Cherry will give you pops of sugar all season long but will need some good support. Brandy Boy is a fantastic hybrid that came out of the Brandywine heirloom line, so more productive with all the legendary flavor.