UCCE Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County: Spring Garden Market 2010

History San Jose, San Jose, California

April 10, 2010

The Master Gardener website has a special Bonus webpage with all the documents, handouts, plant lists, planting tips and a unique Success with Herbs booklet that describes growing, harvesting and using the 15+ herbs sold at the market: http://mastergardeners.org/SGM-Bonus

Click on a picture to see a larger version. Contact mrm@sonic.net if you need full resolution versions.

  1. Future Farmers of America

  2. Crowd lined up -- first people arrived at 6:45 a.m. for the 9 a.m. ribbon cutting

  3. Cole Canyon Farm sells vegetable starts and herb plants at farmer's markets around the county

  4. Last minute prep

  5. Mary Collins leads the seeding, up-potting and caring for the ~15,000 tomato plants grown this year (79 varieties) for the Spring Garden Market sale, the April 17th sale at the Palo Alto Demonstration Garden and for the MGs pre-orders. More info on the April 17 sale is here: April 17 PADG Sale

  6. Not only the first customer, but the first for several years in a row

  7. Tomato plants await the crowd waiting for the ribbon cutting

  8. Hamming it up

  9. OK we're ready

  10. We got our laundry baskets

  11. MGs make it happen

  12. Plants are still there

  13. Last peaceful moments

  14. It was a chilly morning but several hundred people waited patiently, reading the tomato and pepper descriptions and making lists. Some people loved that we offered 17 herbs this year and went straight to the herb tables, visiting tomatoes and peppers after that.

  15. Crowd inching forward

  16. Jane and Michael Cohen, Co-Leads

  17. Looking over tomatoes towards peppers

  18. 3 ... 2 ...

  19. Red jacket is on her mark

  20. Focus

  21. Lettuce

  22. Thai eggplant I think

  23. Chile heads

  24. Strawberries

  25. Peppers

  26. Somehow he stacks the boxes 3 deep

  27. 5 minutes in

  28. That one!

  29. We know people won't wait until May to plant

  30. Dual purpose wagon

  31. The first half hour is bustling and then after that it's just busy

  32. Just getting started

  33. Another 5 minutes in

  34. Reading the description

  35. "Did we decide on Stupice or Kootenai?"

  36. Lots of kids

  37. MG Advisory Board President Dan Johnston caught red handed

  38. Statue of Tomato

  39. Somehow people don't buy just 2 or 3

  40. 15 minutes in, the crowd is heavy

  41. First customer

  42. OK where's the checkout ...

  43. Avid cooks

  44. Dogs eat tomatoes too

  45. They bought 900 plants for school kids to grow at a 1-acre plot at a church

  46. Jef took Amtrak from Oakland to San Jose for a Black Cherry Tomato. I just hope he saves seeds.

  47. Food for the Soul chef, her husband and little boy (junior chef) - Food for the Soul is her business. She teaches gardening classes and cooking classes in people's homes.


Marianne Mueller
Last modified: April 11, 2010