How The Magic Happens - Producing a Plant Sale

Sue Fitz, UC Master Gardener, Yolo County

Photos by Wilda Knoesen

The bi-annual UC Master Gardener-Yolo plant sales at Woodland Community College (WCC), have been occurring for almost twenty years. Partially a fund raiser for the college and Master Gardeners, it also aims to be an inexpensive source of waterwise and pollinator friendly plants for the public. 

The preparation for each sale begins about five months before the sale date. The propagation team meets to choose what plants to offer for the upcoming sale. To keep things interesting, species and varieties are rotated frequently, to keep selection fresh. Propagators keep an eye out at all times to spot new material that can be added to the list of offerings.

Four months out from the sale, equipment is disinfected and sterilized. Pots, soil, and labels are ordered, heat mats are unfurled, and the sterilized trays are filled with a fifty/fifty mix of perlite and vermiculite. Seed pans are filled with either regular potting soil, or cactus mix (used for starting native plant seeds) and...

On the right, smooth margins on the leaves are the defining feature of potato-leaf tomato plants. On the left, scalloped, or serrated leaf edges are characteristic of regular-leaf tomato plants. Photo by Tanya Kucak

Tomato Leaf Shapes and Sunscald

Tanya Kucak, UC Master Gardener, Yolo County

The typical tomato leaf is called a regular leaf shape. Some tomato growers favor potato-leaf varieties, opining that the larger leaves of these varieties result in better flavors and offer the tomatoes more protection from the sun. The leaf margins are smooth rather than toothed, somewhat reminiscent of the leaves of potato plants. Brandywine is the most popular potato-leaf tomato. Other potato-leaf varieties include African Queen, Polaris, and Rosedale. Since the potato-leaf gene is recessive, these plants are far less common than regular-leaf varieties. 

Rugose potato-leaf foliage is another variant. Dwarf tomato plants, such as Dwarf Golden Tipsy, have deeply creased, or rugose leaves. 

The smaller regular leaves of a plant such as Fire Plum F1, however, can be just as effective at protecting fruits from the sun. Although the plant has an airy appearance, its leaves are layered.

Tomato plants that don’t provide enough leaf cover can make their fruits more susceptible to sunscald. At the height of summer, sunscald looks like a bleached-out, somewhat wrinkly patch on the tomato. If you...

Rosedale is an outstanding potato-leaf sandwich tomato. Photo by Tanya Kucak, adapted.

Eleven New Varieties in Tomato Seedling Sale

Tanya Kucak, UC Master Gardener, Yolo County

This year’s lineup for the tomato seedling sale includes nine new-to-the-sale varieties, two heirlooms from previous years, and twenty-five varieties carried over from last year.

Rosebud, Rosedale, and Texwine were bred by Bill Jeffers in Indiana. He specializes in vigorous, heat-tolerant, disease-resistant varieties. Moreover, he has collaborators in other parts of the United States, especially where heat is more intense, who make selections and help refine his original crosses. These varieties are all open-pollinated, which means that you can save seed from your tomato and, as long as a rare bee cross did not occur, it will breed true. It also means that it has taken at least seven years to develop a true-breeding variety. The first year, the original cross is made, which produces F1 seed. Many seeds collected from the F1 fruits are grown the next year, the F2 generation, to find promising variants. The best of the F2s, selected for different qualities, are then each grown out the following year, and the best of these are each selected as F3s. It takes seven or eight generations (F7 to F8) for a variety to be...

Ask a Master Gardener

This column is written by the Master Gardeners of Yolo County each month. It provides answers to selected questions recently asked by Yolo County gardeners..

This two question article previously appeared in the Winters Express and Davis Enterprise.

Have a gardening question? Send it to jmbaumbach@ucanr.edu, with “Ask MGs” in the subject line. Include as much detail as possible and pictures if you have them.

March Vegetable Planting Guide

Peg Smith, UC Master Gardener, Yolo County

March can come in many weathers: from wet, to freezing cold, to a warm spell. It is a month for vegetable gardeners to be patient. Hold off on the planting of warm season transplants of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. that were started in January or February. If the soil is not sufficiently warm transplants will not progress but will remain static until the temperatures...

13^th Annual Gardens Got Natives

April 18-19 9:30am – 3:00pm

Free self-guided event featuring forty plus California native plant home, business, and school gardens in the Sacramento region.

The tour gardens are comprised predominantly of California native plants in the urban landscape. These gardens feature a variety of ways in which native plants can flourish in a garden. Some are

professionally designed while others are more functional and are a mix use of natives, food production, and living spaces. You will find delightful and sustainable gardens that harness water, create habitats, and add a sense of place. All native plants in the gardens will be labeled with a plant list available in the tour brochure. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask garden hosts about their choices and challenges. We will again have several vendors out at the gardens selling plants: Mother Natives, Find Out Farms, Miridae Mobile Nursery and a discount available at The Plant Foundry. Details of locations will be posted as that information becomes available.

After registration you will receive the map and tour brochure information the week before the tour begins. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Contact: gardensgonenative@gmail.com

For more information see the Native Plant Garden Tour Webpage

FB/insta: gardensgotnatives

Winters Friends of the Library - Annual Fruit Tree Sale

Location: Parking lot at 517 Railroad Avenue (corner of Edwards Street), Winters

March 7 - Members have early access at 8:30am. Public access at 9:30am.

Sale closes when sold out. Master Gardeners of Yolo County will be available for advice on tree selection, pruning, and planting.

Click here for more information.

UC Master Gardeners of Yolo County / WCC Spring Plant Sales

Location: Woodland Community College, 2300 E. Gibson Road, Woodland

April 4 - 9am to 1pm

April 11 - 9am to 1pm

Drought-tolerant ornamental garden plants (bulbs, California native plants, perennials, and succulents) and many varieties of tomato plants (several heirloom tomato varieties) will be available. Watch for the official announcement and plant list in late February and in the March Yolo Gardener Newsletter.

UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sales

Location: UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery, 1046 Garrod Drive, Davis

April 11 - Members 9am to 1pm / Non-members 10am to 1pm

May 2 - Public Sale 9am to 1pm

May 16 - Clearance Sale (open to everyone) 9am - 1pm

Master Gardeners of Yolo County will have a table at these sales to answer questions you might have.

Click here for more information.

UC Master Gardeners of Yolo County / Grace Garden Annual Plant Sale

Location: On the back patio of Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Street, Davis

April 11 - 9am to 11am

The plant sale will be followed by a free Master Gardener talk on “Gardening for Year-Round Meals” from 11am to noon. Two great events in one day!

Winters Spring Plant Sale

Location: Winters Community Library Teaching Garden, 708 Railroad Ave, Winters, CA

April 18 - 9am to 1pm

This event is a partnership of three community organizations, UC Master Gardeners of Yolo County, Winters Friends of the Library, and Winters High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) whose sales support the high school program and greenhouse.

The sale will feature plants from Morningstar Herb Farms of Vacaville in addition to plants propagated by UC Master Gardeners-Yolo and community volunteers The proceeds from the sale benefits the maintenance of the garden cared for by Master Gardeners and community volunteers. The plants offered for sale provide habitat for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds and will include a variety of dwarf butterfly bushes, lavenders, ornamental sages, culinary herbs, and various California native plants.

University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program

The Yolo Gardener Newsletter is a monthly publication and the events posted here are based on information available at the time of publication. For the most up-to-date information on our events CLICK HERE.

University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) is an equal opportunity provider.