Hundreds of tomato varieties to be shown at Tallinn Botanic Garden next week

On August 19–21, from 11:00 to 19:00, the popular Tomato Festival will take place in the Tallinn Botanic Garden, where hundreds of varieties of tomatoes and sweet peppers will be presented.

According to Tiia Jaanus, the curator of the Tomato Festival and the methodologist of the Tallinn Botanic Garden, about ten thousand varieties of tomatoes have been bred in the world, the fruits of which differ in a variety of tastes, shapes, and sizes. “The taste spectrum of tomatoes is also very wide – from sweet to sour, with varying degrees of spiciness. In addition to tomatoes of a single colour, there are varieties with stripes or patterns, and red is not the only possible colour: tomatoes can be orange, yellow, pink, nearly black or white. In Estonia, numerous varieties of tomatoes with tasty fruits have also been bred,” – explained Jaanus. The exhibition at the Tallinn Botanic Garden will be just as colourful, with around 300 tomato varieties on display.

Tomatoes and sweet peppers from the collection of the Latvians Valdis Pūliņš and Tatjana Nagle, as well as from the collections of the Tallinn Botanic Garden will be presented. In addition to tomatoes, you will also see a wide range of grape varieties from the Saare-Tõrvaaugu farm. It will be possible to purchase tomato seeds from the Latvian collection. The Saare-Tõrvaaugu farm sells grapes and grape seedlings for growing in greenhouses.

The tours will take place in the Garden of the Senses, the lecture will take place in the classroom of the Palm House, and the exhibition – in the conference hall of the Palm House. All activities can be attended with an entrance ticket.

Tallinn Botanic Garden is open daily from 10:00 to 19:00. A regular ticket to the Botanic Garden in the summer season costs 6 euros, a reduced ticket costs 3 euros.

Program of the Tomato Festival:

20 August

12:00     Lecture "History of breeding and cultivation of compact tomato varieties" (Harri Poom from the Saare-Tõrvaaugu horticultural farm)

12:00     Tour of the Garden of Senses in Russian (Maria Strukova)

13:00     Tour of the Garden of Senses in Estonian (Tiia Jaanus)

21 August

12:00     Tour of the Garden of Senses in Russian (Maria Strukova)

13:00     Tour of the Garden of Senses in Estonian (Tiia Jaanus)