Vegetables

Our annual Spring Garden Fair is held at our Martial Cottle Park Demonstration Garden in San Jose. You can shop our plant sale, stroll through our gardens, attend a talk, and bring your plant, soil, pest, and tool questions to our Information tables.

Review Growing Great Tomatoes before planting your seedlings. Harden off your seedlings by gradually acclimating plants to outdoor conditions for 4 to 7 days before transplanting into the ground. Start by placing the plants in a sheltered location like a covered patio.

Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family and is grown for its edible, bulb-shaped, stem. Often mistaken for a root plant, the bulb sits just above the soil. The taste and texture are similar to the stems of broccoli but is juicier and crisper.

We offer a wide range of delicious and unusual pepper/chile seedlings from around the world - India, South America, Mexico, Africa, USA and more. Whether you like sweet and juicy or hot and searing, you'll find many choices to please your palate.

Chives, Allium schoenoprasum, or "onion chives", are a herb belonging to the same family as garlic, scallions, and onions. They are grown for their edible leaves and flowers. The flowers are attractive to pollinators and are frequently visited by many types of bees. Grown in clumps, their slender leaves rise…

This is a summary of what we learned from our 2001 tomato project in regards to tomato staking methods. We grew just over a hundred varieties of mostly heirloom tomatoes at the now closed University of California Bay Area Research and Extension Center facility in the City of Santa Clara.

When to plant: Transplant: February–April, August–September (maybe October) Harvest as soon as they reach maturity (the head is firm and has reached an acceptable size). Leaving them in the garden too long may result in bolting or split heads.

Transplant or direct seed: May–June. For best results, wait until daytime temperatures are regularly over 75°F and soil temperature is over 70°F. Start in pots for transplants: April–May; ready to transplant in 4 weeks.

Learn how to start summer vegetable seeds indoors with expert tips for a successful garden. Learn why starting from seeds is better than getting seedlings.

Asparagus is a perennial plant that can produce for years if grown with care. Choose a site in full sun and prepare the soil well. The plants send up 5-foot tall, ferny growth over the summer, so plant them where they won't undesirably shade other plants. Asparagus plants will be either male or female. The…