Love Apple Farms nursery, located at 5311 Scotts Valley Drive in Scotts Valley is open seasonally, usually from late March through late May, for vegetable plant sales and gardening workshops. Our farm proper, shown below, is no longer open to the general public.
Cynthia Sandberg, owner and farmer, uses organic techniques to grow many different cultivars of fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. Beginning her work life as a trial attorney, Cynthia transitioned to farming after falling in love with gardening in her backyard on a bit more than one acre in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Founding Love Apple in 2000, Cynthia started as a tomato plant grower and had a small tomato fruit stand on her Ben Lomond property.
In 2010, she purchased 22 acres on the former site of the Smothers Brothers Winery on Vine Hill Road in Santa Cruz and re-established her farm on the terraced hillside. Love Apple Farms partnered with Manresa, a three Michelin starred restaurant, for 11 years, providing them with hundreds of varieties of fruits, vegetables and edible flowers. This relationship was one of the fore-runners in the ubiquitous farm to table movement, and influenced many other such farm/restaurant relationships.
Cynthia has lectured at numerous gardening and farming conferences and garden clubs, including the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, Eco-Farm, MAD Symposium in Copenhagen and Nordic Barista Cup in Oslo, Norway. She is a sought-after garden speaker on topics such as Mastering the Art of the Tomato, Introduction to Biodynamic Gardening, Farmer/Chef Relationships, and How to Make a Living from your Backyard Garden. Cynthia can be contacted by emailing her at [email protected]
Love Apple Farms also offers off-site satellite workshops for organizations. If you are interested in bringing the farm to your business or club for an on-site workshop, please contact us at [email protected].
Love Apple Farms is home to the largest tomato plant sale in California, with well over 100 varieties of heirloom tomato seedlings (also called "starts") each spring, from March to June. Our retail greenhouse is at Ivy's Porch, located at 5311 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley. Click here for more information about our tomato plant sale.
If you'd like to be notified of future classes, or of the dates of next year's tomato seedling sales, please subscribe to our newsletter.
