Tallinn Botanic Garden opens its fifth Tomato Festival

The Tallinn Botanic Garden will host the fifth annual Tomato Festival this year. The festival will take place from 1-3 September, between 11:00 and 19:00, at the Palm House. At the festival, you can buy various tomato seeds and fruits as well as participate in guided tours.

The tomato exhibition displays around 300 tomato varieties. The festival is organised in collaboration with tomato breeders Valdis Pūliņš and Ingmar Pappel, who showcase their diverse tomato harvests and share their experiences with growing tomatoes.

The natural ancestors of tomatoes originated in South America, mainly from 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 fruit sizes, shapes and colours. The taste of tomatoes 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.

Participating in the exhibition and event requires a standard entry fee. During the summer period, the regular entry ticket to the Tallinn Botanic Garden is 6 euros, the discounted ticket costs 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 tours at the link https://bit.ly/Tomatipidu2023