Farm & Garden to hold Fall Plant Sale
September 9 and 10
With the warmest weather of the year now arriving, this is
the perfect time to start thinking about how to extend your
vegetable garden into the fall and winter and get landscape
plants established for next spring's blossoms.
A great first step is to visit the UCSC Farm & Garden's
Fall Plant Sale, offering gardeners a rich and timely selection
of organically raised vegetable seedlings, perennials, and California
natives. Sponsored by the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable
Food Systems, the sale takes place on Friday and Saturday, September
9 and 10, from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Saturday, in the Barn Theater parking lot at the intersection
of Bay and High Streets.
Lettuce, salad mix, Swiss chard, Asian greens, scallions, leeks,
and brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, and kale are just a few
of the vegetables that can be planted this fall for winter harvest.
Flowers like bachelor buttons, calendula, bells of Ireland,
and stock can also be planted in the fall for late winter and
spring blooms.
In addition to winter vegetables and culinary herbs, the sale
will feature perennial flowers and shrubs. Some standouts of
the perennial collection this fall include Angelica stricta
'Purpurea', a striking purple-leaved plant much loved by butterflies;
Verbascum 'Arctic Summer', a drought-tolerant native
of Greece, with tall, white fleecy stems bearing bright yellow
flowers; Correa 'Carmine Bells', an Australian perennial
with dusky rose tubular flowers that bloom November to April;
and a California native flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum
glutinosum, which bears long, showy clusters of pink flowers
from winter into spring.
Autumn is also the best time to plant perennial shrubs, including
California natives, according to Christof Bernau, garden manager.
"Because the soil is still warm, transplants quickly establish
strong roots that ensure their survival during the winter,"
said Bernau. Fall plantings will be much larger and have more
bloom than those planted in spring, he added.
The sale will benefit the UCSC Farm & Garden Apprenticeship
Program, a six-month training course in organic farming and
gardening. Members of the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden
receive a 10 percent discount on purchases; memberships will
be available at the sale. For more information about the Fall
Plant Sale or the Friends of the Farm & Garden, call (831)
459-3240 or send e-mail to jonitann@ucsc.edu.
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