Tomato Festival begins tomorrow

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Tallinn Botanic Garden

Tallinn Botanic Garden will host its fifth annual Tomato Festival this weekend September 1-3. At the festival, you can buy tomatoes and seeds, as well as participate in guided tours.

The tomato exhibition in the Palm House will contain around 300 varieties of tomatoes. The festival is organised in collaboration with tomato breeders Valdis Pūliņš and Ingmar Pappel, who will showcase their diverse tomato harvests and share their experience with growing tomatoes.

The natural ancestors of tomatoes originated in South America, in the Andes region. The history of tomatoes as cultivated plants began in Mexico. The first tomatoes brought to Europe were yellow and were grown as decorative plants.

As of today, there are approximately 10,000 varieties of tomatoes of varying sizes, shapes and colours. The taste of tomatoes also varies from sour to sweet and from mild to spicy.

At the Tomato Festival, you can get acquainted with some of these exciting varieties and also buy the seeds and fruit of many others.

To enter the exhibition and participate in the guided tours you will need to buy a standard ticket to the Botanic Garden. During the summer period, the regular entry ticket is 6 euros, discounted tickets cost 3 euros.

Tomato Festival schedule:

02.09 at 12:00 guided tour in the Garden of Senses (in Estonian)

02.09 at 13:00 guided tour in the Garden of Senses (in Russian)

03.09 at 12:00 guided tour in the Garden of Senses (in Estonian)

03.09 at 13:00 guided tour in the Garden of Senses (in Russian)

You can register for the guided tours by clicking on this link. 

The Tomato Festival will be open from September 1-3 from 11 am till 7 pm.

To learn more about this and similar topics
Botanic Garden Festival Tomato Seeds Palm House Tallinn Botanic Garden Tomato Tomatoes Tomato Festival