Grow Better Veggies

Class: Tomato Cage Making

Anyone who has grown great tomatoes (or even not-so-great) can attest to the fact that staking them properly is a challenge.  I've found no commercially-made tomato cage that can hold a 10 foot plant.  And yes, my tomatoes regularly get above and beyond 10 feet. 

Don't let the size of these plants in the photos fool you.  I took these pics before the tomatoes grew so big as to make the cage hard to see.

This Love Apple Farm workshop shows you how to make and use what I call "proper" tomato cages.  These babies are 7 feet tall and two feet wide. 

You may take the class and learn how to do it yourself, which is $20 per person.  Most folks, however, want to take advantage of my discount price that day, and take home the tomato cages we make during class.

I usually charge $15 each for these mondo cages, which will last for decades.  But for one day only, class day, people can make and take the cages for $12 each.  We all help in the cage-making that day.  I require advance notice of how many cages you'd like to help make and buy.

You need not buy any cages to attend the class.  Regardless, you'll need to register in advance by clicking the "Pay Now" button below.  If you'd like to take away cages, let me know a week before the workshop by emailing me the number of cages.  You can pay for your cages "at the door."

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Available class dates:

April 25, 2010 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Tuition: $20

Click "Pay Now" to register for class:

Crazy Hail

This isn't Colorado.  This isn't even the Sierra Nevadas.  This is 13 miles from the coast in central California.  Egad.

We were surprised.  Usually I watch three different reports every day to ensure that if a forecast of extra-cold weather pops up, we cover the garden with frost blankets. 

Even the best of gardeners, and even the best of weather reporters, get caught off guard.

Last Friday early evening, around 5:30, in the space of about 30 minutes, we received a hail storm of epic proportions.  Since it was already dark, and the hail was plummeting down as hard as Tiger Woods' reputation, we couldn't run out and throw the blankets on.

In the fourteen years I've lived in Ben Lomond, I've never seen this amount of hail.  It looked like snow.  Of course we unskilled Californians were slipping and sliding around the road like a bunch of city folk.

What's been interesting with this hail is that up close, it looks exactly like Dippin' Dots.  It also has stuck around through a couple of decent rain storms.  Two days later, during my Early Spring Gardening Class, my students couldn't believe it was still here.  It was a good teaching moment, though.  The lesson is that often Mother Nature catches you off guard.  And despite your best efforts, she reminds us who's in charge.

Another Great Student Testimonial

Tamara O'Kelly attended a Love Apple Farm class last year, and I wanted to share her inspiring photos of how she was able to transform her back yard into a showpiece kitchen garden.  All of these photos are of Tamara's garden, located in Boulder Creek, CA.  I'm so proud of her! Hi Cynthia!

I took your "Grow Better Veggies" class and thought I'd send you some before and after shots of my garden so you could see how well I paid attention in class!  So, here is my story.

In the beginning...there was an asphalt driveway...and the hungry gardener said, "Let there be veggies!" and she and a friend separated the asphalt from the soil.  And it was so. 
The compost truck arrived, the raised beds were built and the deer fencing erected.  It took her MONTHS, not seven days. Even though the seedlings were planted late, the sun shone on them and they grew and were fruitful.  So fruitful, that now the hungry gardener is no longer hungry and neither is anybody else in the neighborhood, including the resident chickens and goats!  

Walking through my garden and "grazing" is no less than a biblical experience for me (pardon the pun)...I am in heaven eating all of the yummy, organic heirloom veggies that I started in your class.  I have devoted most of my spare time to learning about Biodynamic gardening and learn something new everyday and share as much of that with others as I can.  I'm now focusing on learning how to schedule my seed sowing and crop rotation so that I can be as productive as possible all year long.  The learning curve is always tougher in the beginning!

Thank you for such an inspiring class and for getting me off on the right foot!  I've never had such success before!

                                                Sincerely,

                                                Tamara O'Kelly
                                                The Historic Hartmann House Inn

Iron Chef America and the White House Garden

It was so nice tonight to see Iron Chef America showcase a "home" garden.  Of course it wasn't just any "home;" it was the White House garden!  Michelle Obama introduced the secret ingredient herself on the White House lawn.  Then White House chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay were pitted against Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali. 

The chefs got to go into the beautiful White House garden to choose ultra-fresh, seasonal veggies from Michelle Obama's gorgeous and productive potager.  There were great shots of the First Lady working in the garden, and it's very nice to see that one of her favorite vegetables is sweet potatoes!

Since Love Apple Farm is dedicated to helping people grow their own vegetables, fruits, herbs and edible flowers, in addition to other edible sustainables like eggs and honey, it was fabulous to see such focus on home gardens on Iron Chef.  Much attention was paid to the wonder and benefits of going out to pick fresh produce from your own garden. 

Michelle Obama has done a great thing by celebrating growing your own vegetables.  It's organic, it's sustainable, it's healthy, it's community-building, and it's family fun, too!  You don't have to be the First Family to have a jaw-dropping, lip-smacking garden.  Tear out that front lawn!

Don't know your first steps?  Try our Early Spring Vegetable Gardening Class coming up in a few weeks.  Follow that up with a Tomato and Pepper Growing Class, Compost Workshop, and Garden Bed Design and Construction Class.  We show you how to do it all.  You can do it!

Click here to go to our Classes and Events page.

How About a Gardening Class as a Holiday Gift?

Love Apple Farm has gift certificates available.  Give the gift of health, vitality, nature, and self-sustainability.  Getting back to basics and learning how to grow one's own food, preserve it, make a beautiful outdoor living space, and reduce reliance on an unstable economy, can be an invaluable gift to a loved one.

Gift certificates can be used to purchase tomato seedlings, worm castings, and an extensive array of  workshops.  Our 2010 class roster includes all-season vegetable growing, container gardening, garden bed design and construction, herb gardening, chicken keeping, bee-keeping, jam-making, preserves, composting, vermiculture, drip irrigation installation, and our specialty, tomato growing.

Our first classes start in January!

For a listing of workshops, go to our Classes and Events page.  You may register someone else for a class through its own listing page, or you can let your gift recipient decide for themselves with a generic gift certificate.

If you'd like to purchase a gift certificate, click on the drop down menu below.  You can also purchase one by mailing a check to Love Apple Farm (to do that, first email Cynthia at loveapplefarm@gmail.com).  Either way, a beautiful gift certificate will be mailed to either you or the person you choose.

Choose Certificate Amount

Gift for $25.00 Gift for $50.00 Gift for $75.00 Gift for $100.00 Gift for $125.00 Gift for $150.00 Gift for $175.00 Gift for $200.00

Class: Early Spring Vegetable Gardening

Take advantage of our mild California Bay Area climate to get your vegetable gardening up and productive for the season.  Why wait for summer to start harvesting your own healthy and organic produce? 

This class will teach you what's possible to grow and harvest in early spring.  You will be able to plant and sow in February and March, then start to pick your bounty in April.  Learn sustainable organic techniques that will let you seamlessly integrate your early spring vegetable garden into your summer plantings of warm weather lovers.

We will discuss various lettuces, spinaches, chard, bok choy, tatsoi, carrots, turnips, radishes, snow and shelling peas, mustard, mizuna, cress, kale, and sweet peas.  This class differs from my Winter Vegetable Gardening Class, as it only concentrates on quick cool-weather plants that you will be able to be put in now and harvest in the spring

Every student gets to sow a flat of seeds to take home.

In addition to the culture requirements of each of the vegetables the topics covered in class will include: bed preparation, heat and light requirements, frost control, germination tricks, companion planting, organic pest control, fertilizing, and harvesting techniques. 

My students say they love on-site classes at the farm because they get to see the vegetables growing and the techniques demonstrated are all hands-on.

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

Class dates:

January 24, 2010 (Sunday) 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
February 13, 2010 (Saturday) 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

BOTH CLASS DATES NOW FULL!

Tuition: $55
Materials Fee: $20

IF YOU MISSED THE EARLY SPRING GARDENING WORKSHOP, CONSIDER JOINING US FOR THE SUMMER VEGETABLE GARDENING CLASS.  Enrollment is limited, so register now!

To ask a question about a class, please email Cynthia at loveapplefarm@gmail.com. The workshop is held at Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond, California.  Click here for farm directions and a map.