The roving gardening extravaganza known as Tomatomania returns to the Santa Ynez Valley for its third time on April 5 and 6. But this year it won’t just be 50 varieties of tomatoes to choose from — there’s peppers, eggplants, herbs, and cut flowers on the menu as well.
You can thank Mark Donofrio of The Starter Farm for spearheading that expansion of the free event, which features a number of classes as well as sales of seeds and plantings that have been tested for Santa Barbara County’s various microclimates. To get a better sense of what to expect, I asked Mark a few questions about this year’s Tomatomania. (Here’s m y article on last year’s event , which includes a bit more about Donofrio’s background as well.)
Which tomatoes are you fired up about in 2025?