Events

Santa Clara County is one of the best places in the world to create a year-round garden, whether you want to grow vegetables or a beautiful sustainable garden full of trees, shrubs, perennials and flowers.  Come learn the basics about our climate and soil and the best practices for creating your ideal garden.  If you are a beginning gardener, you will learn how to get started successfully.  If you have some experience, you'll learn about sustainable practices and appropriate plants to introduce into your garden.  the goal of this class is to enable you to have a successful and sustainable garden in our time and place.

There are six classes on six consecutive Tuesday evenings from October 7 through November 11 from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Register at http://www.ci.campbell.ca.us/Recreation/communitycenter

Location: Campbell Community Center, 1 W. Campbell Ave., Campbell, 95008 Directions to Campbell Community Center

UCCE Master Gardener Bekah Stratton will provide this complete introduction to growing and using the many varieties of lavenders, including the history and mystique of lavender up to the current day.  She will demonstrate the great contrast between lavender grown with preferred, natural methods, and lavender grown with toxic chemical methods.  Being a Mediterranean plant, or dry summer plant, lavender only needs water during our rainy season.  This makes it ideal for landscaping in drought prone areas like ours.  Topics include: genus of Lavenders; types by intended uses; growing habits; planting; methods of propagation; nutrition needs; and soils.  Care of the fragrant crop leading to the final day of harvesting the lavender will be covered as well.  Practical handouts provided.

No Reservations Required. 

Location: Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverly St., Palo Alto, 94301 Directions to Gamble Garden

A great family day!  Giant Pumpkin Patch - Scarecrow Row - Apple Tasting - Fresh Apple Cider - Guadalupe River Education - Lots of FreeK Kid's Activities - Children's Concert.   The Master Gardeners will host a fun booth with gardening- and harvest-related children's activities.

Location:

Discovery Meadow, Guadalupe River Park and Garden.  This area is located just north of the Children's Discovery Museum at 180 Woz Way, San Jose, CA 95110-2722.  The major cross street is San Carlos Street.

Directions to Guadalupe River Park and Garden

This fall, plant a crop in your vegetable bed to feed the SOIL instead of you and your family. We'll talk about what a cover crop is, why they are useful and which ones are good to plant here.

Followed by Grand Rounds in the Community Garden.

Location: Sunnyvale Teaching and Demonstration Garden (at Charles Street Community Garden), 433 Charles St., Sunnyvale, 94087 Directions to Sunnyvale Teaching and Demonstration Garden

Learn how to have a beautiful garden with less work and less water.  Climate-adapted plants make gardening easy in our year-round dry climate.

Location:

1243 San Tomas Aquino Road, San Jose, 95117

Directions to West Valley Library

Let's go green!  A free community event offering families and children opportunities to diminish their carbon footprint and counter global warming.   Sponsored by the League of Women Voters; the Master Gardeners will host a table.

Location:

Tech Museum of Innovation, 201 South Market Street, San Jose, 95113

Directions to the Tech Museum of Innovation

Families are invited to join the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and over a dozen other environmental organizations to celebrate nature and wildlife.  There will be live animals, educational presentations, a poster contest and many hands-on activities including nestbox and a bird feeder building.

For "Early Birds," we'll have a guided shoreline walk at the Charleston Slough in Mountain View's Baylands at 8 a.m.  Following the walk, participants will caravan to Wildlife Education Day festivities in Cupertino.  RSVP is required for the walk only.  Please call 408-252-3740 to RSVP or send email to programs@scvas.org.

The Master Gardeners will host a booth with fun hands-on gardening-related activities.

Location:

McClellan Ranch Park, 22221 McClellan Rd., Cupertino, 95014

Directions to McClellan Ranch Park

Join other gardeners in learning how to save seeds from your favorite summer vegetables and flowers!  Master Gardener Rosalie Shepherd will describe the principles and show you sure-fire techniques.  It's great fun and also satisfying to grow your favorite plants from saved seeds.

Location: Los Altos Main Library, 13 S. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, 94022 Directions to Los Altos Library

Learn which varieties of peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, aprictos, apples and pears are the delight of connoisseurs.  You will be introduced to the best of the best-tasting deciduous fruits that grow in this area and learn where to find sources for your own plants.  Nancy has been conducting and attending fruit tastings for the last 26 years in her diverse home fruit garden and in research facilities around the state.  She has collaborated with Andy's Orchard and Dave Wilson Nursery and oversees the rare fruit plantings at Prusch Farm Park in San Jose.

Location: 559 College Ave., Palo Alto, 94306 Directions to Common Ground

Learn how to make unusual and attractive arrangements using plant materials from the fall garden. Ikebana and other techniques will be demonstrated.

Followed by Open Garden until 1 p.m.

Location: Palo Alto Demonstration Garden (at Eleanor Pardee Community Garden), 851 Center Drive, Palo Alto, 94301 Directions to Palo Alto Demonstration Garden

Why plant fruit trees at home?  Some reasons are:

* The advantage of having tree-ripened fruit in your own yard.  (It's not possible to get ripe peaches, for example, in the supermarket.)

* The ability to grow the tastiest varieties, many of which are not available in the supermarkets because they are not grown by commercial growers.

* The freedom to select varieties that will give fruit many months out of the year.

The best way to plant a fruit tree is to plant a bare-root tree in January.  Come learn how easy and fun it is!  The technique of espaliered fruit trees will also be discussed.  And check out http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu! 

Location: 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, 94022 Directions to Los Altos Library