Ploughshares is Hiring a New Nursery Manager Hello Ploughshares peeps! It has been an amazing and instructive time for me managing Ploughshares Nursery and I am moving on to wonderful nursery in Petaluma soon. Ploughshares is a fascinating nursery to work at, we are part of a pioneering effort to make people aware of sustainable…
Craft Up Workshop Shade Bowls
And FAQ about shade gardening after you get your hands dirty Get Tickets Here Craft up a beautiful bowl of shade plants for texture and flowers. Learn how to tend plants growing in containers in shade. Everyone takes home a bowl of their own creation composed of plants which prefer shade like that on a…
Ploughshares is Hiring a New Nursery Manager
Alameda Point Collaborative JOB DESCRIPTION POSITION: Nursery Manager DIVISION: Nursery REPORTS TO: Executive Director CLASSIFICATION: Exempt SUPERVISES: Sales and Propagation Staff On The Job Trainees Volunteers Volunteer Groups ABOUT THE ALAMEDA POINT COLLABORATIVE Ploughshares Nursery is a social enterprise project of the Alameda Point Collaborative (APC). APC’s mission is to end…
Mulch with G&G Purely Compost
O.M.R.I. certified organic Great for trees, shrubs, bulbs, fruits and vegetables. Improves poor soil, creating the perfect soil environmentIdeal as a topdressing around established plants for increased vitality Application rate 1.5 CF – Amends 15 sq ft pH Range 5.8 – 7.5 Ingredients Tomato Skins, almond shells, rice straw and hulls. This product contains: bark…
Featured Tree “Strawberry Tree”
Arbutus marina ‘Strawberry Tree’I remember my step-grandmother would add the big smooshy (almost flavorless) berries to her jams when she was short on raspberries or wanted to mass produce jams to give to her vast and uncountable relatives back in Texas. When she passed away I found dozens of jars of arbutus strawberry preserves waiting…
Ollas in Stock and Ready
Drought gardening loves Ollas. Ollas are clay vessels which once buried up to their neck and filled with water, release water slowly to surrounding roots. This is ancient alien technology folks! Kidding aside, I have used Ollas in our raised beds at Ploughshares and witnessed how effective they are first hand. Check out this video.
September Edibles Here and Now
Plant these for late season edible harvest late November and Early December (except Asparagus, that’s a whole different world of biennial fun and perennial gardening, but you have to get started sometime!) Asparagus: Mary Washington Asparagus Beets: bulls blood beets Beets: Chiogga Beets Beets: Golden Detroit Beets Broccoli: Chinese Early Jade Broccoli Broccoli: Green Magic…
Eco Pots are In
Biodegradable rice hull pots for indoor and outdoor use
September Newsletter
September Gardening News crafty succulent projects Fall garden tips Agave attenuata, Yellow Lantana, Leptinella, Portularcaria and Monkey Flower Low water needs plants and drought tolerant container gardening can be gorgeous fun when you learn how to choose the right plants for the right container. Join Ploughshares staff September for a hands on workshop creating your…
Thankyou Hass School of Business Garden Renovation
Volunteers from Berkeley Hass School of Business will be working on our garden August 18th and 19th. Sorry to say we will be closed these days.
New Succulent Bowls
Hand crafted succulent planters in eclectic pots, these are not your mass produced delicate Home Despot bowls, these are home-town!
First Cool Season Veggies In
(LAST BLAST OF BASIL TOO!) Beets: Chiogga Beets Beets: Golden Detroit Beets Beets: Ruby Queen Beets Chard: Orange Fantasia Swiss Chard Chard: Ruby Red Chard Collards: Champion Collards Herb: Chives Herb: Epazote (makes beans taste BUENO!) Herb: Genovese Basil Herb: Greek Oregano Herb: Italian Parsley Herb: Italian Pesto Basil Herb: Kentucky Colonel Mint Herb: Peppermint…
Passion Fruit is Back!
Passiflora edulis ‘Frederic’ is back in stock. This super easy to grow vine offers beautiful little flowers and amazingly delicious fruit. The flavor is out of this world tropical-voyage-to-lost-islands FANTASTIC. Despite the tropical flavor and lush foliage this selection of edible passion flower vine doesn’t give a damn about our cool winters or even a…
Spice up that Native Garden
Calycanthus occidentalis or ‘Spice Bush’ is native to the west coast from Washington to the Bay Area.Spice Bush is named for the wonderful scent of its leaves which are reminiscent of oak barrels soaked in burgundy. The bark and branches give off a powerful camphor scent as well. All things considered this small tree or…
Stinging Nettle in the Herb Garden
Native to Europe, northern Asia and Northwestern Africa, Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) has a very long history of medicinal use. The fibers were a common source of material for crafting textiles. Tiny ‘hypodermic needles’ on the leaves (invisible to the eye) inject histamine chemicals which create a stinging sensation. Live nettle can be very painful…
Valerian for your Health
Seventeenth century astrological botanist Nicholas Culpeper asserted that Valerian was ‘under the influence of Mercury’ and therefore ‘hath a warming faculty’. Whether you believe in astrological botany or not this wonderful herbaceous plant has been cultivated for thousands of years as a medicine offering a sedative effect against anxiety and insomnia. Cats dig it too,…
Dragon Fruit
Selenicereus undatus also commonly known as Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit is the most highly cultivated cactus in the world. Like Aloe vera, it has been cultivated so long that the original plant has been lost to history. This is an easy to grow cactus in the East Bay, grow as a houseplant or in a…