Launch of Kagome Original Variety Home Gardening Seedlings (2026 Season)

Kagome Co., Ltd. (President: Harunobu Okutani, Headquarters: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture), in collaboration with gardening supply manufacturer and wholesaler Protoleaf Co., Ltd. (President: Takashi Sato, Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo), will begin sales of its 2026 season home gardening seedlings at home centers and gardening specialty stores nationwide starting in late March.

Kagome's home gardening tomato seedlings are developed from our proprietary collection of approximately 7,500 tomato seed varieties, specifically bred to be easy to grow in home gardens. This year, we are introducing "Pururun® Orange," a new color variation of our thin-skinned mini tomato "Pururun®," known for its surprising texture. In total, we are offering a lineup of 13 tomato varieties, including easy-to-grow options for beginners, varieties focused on sweetness, and others with unique traits such as thin skins or short internodes.

Furthermore, we continue to expand our vegetable seedling lineup. This spring, we are launching "Rintaro," a bell pepper that remains tender even when grown large; "Natsuhoshi," a bitter melon that is easy to grow in planters and can be enjoyed as a green curtain; and "Minori-hime," a large-grained, sweet edamame. Combined with the broccoli "Morimaru," stem broccoli "Rento," snow pea "Sayahime," and snap pea "Hoshihime" released last autumn, we are offering a total of 16 vegetable seedling varieties.

Since launching our home gardening tomato seedlings in 2015, we have steadily increased sales volume through the expansion of varieties and items, as well as strengthened sales efforts. This year, with the desire to encourage more customers to take an interest in vegetable gardening, we have revamped our home gardening website. We have enhanced useful information for beginners, such as "Beginner's Guides" and "User Testimonials," and improved the store locator function to make the website more valuable to our customers. Additionally, by utilizing our tomato cultivation support app "Toma-Sapo!," users ranging from beginners to experts can enjoy the cultivation process. The app has been used by over 100,000 people to date.

Through the sale of home gardening seedlings and soil suitable for growing tomatoes and vegetables, we aim to help customers experience the joy of the entire process: "funly growing, admiring, harvesting, cooking, and eating vegetables with gratitude for nature's bounty." Through these experiences, we hope to make vegetables feel more familiar while fostering a sense of appreciation for food, farmers, and nature. We will continue to provide opportunities for people to feel the cycle where people enrich nature and nature enriches people through home gardening.

■ Overview of the Tomato Cultivation Support App "Toma-Sapo!"

Developed by Kagome in 2020, "Toma-Sapo!" provides easy-to-understand guidance for successful tomato cultivation through photos, illustrations, and videos, covering tasks like watering to ensure even beginners do not fail. It also provides daily management advice based on the cultivation location's weather forecast and the specific variety being grown.

■ How to download the "Toma-Sapo!" app

・ App Store: https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/id1458458662?mt=8

・ Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.kagome.tomasapo