New Berries and Vines Just Arrived
Southern Highbush varieties of Blueberry are newly arrived from Dave Wilson nursery in sleeve pots. These blueberries are adapted to the East Bay’s mild climate and produce large crops when planted with compatible cross-pollinating ‘friends’. We recommend you plant two bushes per family member who desires blueberries. Berries typically ripen between April and May with some varieties producing crops later or earlier or indeterminately.
Blueberries prefer acid soil, newly purchased potting soil is sufficient for planting but do consider mulching with acidic materials such as pine needles and coffee grounds quarterly after planting.
Plant in full sun and give regular water in a fast draining environment.
Expect a plant 4′ x 4′
We currently have these cross-compatible varieties in stock in sleeve pots:
Emerald Blueberry
Misty Southern Blueberry
O’Neal Blueberry
Raspberries typically bear in June and
July. These are easy berries to grow and only require full sun and
regular water for bounteous productivity. Our varieties are selected
for success in our cool East Bay climate.
Excellent in containers or in the ground. Berries are produced on last year’s growth so be careful about over-zealous pruning.
We have the following varieties in stock in sleeve pots:
Heritage Red Raspberry
Willamette Red Raspberry
Dwarf Black Mulberry: This bush form of
mulberry continuously produces sweet blackberry-like fruit throughout
the season. A great choice for container gardening, minor pruning will
keep the plant compact. Mature height 6′-8′ if grown in the ground.
Widely adapted, self-fruitful.
Mulberries have a special place in history, being one of the oldest
cultivated fruit trees in the history of the West and an essential plant
for hosting silk worms. The berries have a powerful ability to stain
and shrubs should be planted where falling berries will not mark
expensive garden hardscape and cars with ‘royal purple’. Indeed the
berries ability to stain was used to create the dyes colored ‘Royal
Purple’, so expensive and rare a color that only royalty in England were
permitted to wear textiles colored with dye made from Mulberry.
Tomuri Male Kiwi: The boys are back in town. Seemed like it was impossible to find these essential male kiwi plants for crosspollinating lady kiwis last year. Now they are here and VERY POPULAR with lonely female plants wanting to have fruit by the end of 2021. Put on a trellis or fence or just let crawl around the feet of the woman-folk, the boys are shorter than the girls and not much use for anything but pollination, but heck, ain’t that the way of the world?
Zoom Workshop
December 2020
Unusual Edibles from Around the World
Let your palate guide you around the world during this discussion of five ‘unusual edibles’. Tis the season to appreciate the bounty of the Earth.
Unusual Edibles
Jeff Bridge is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Unusual Edibles from Around the World
Time: Thursday Dec 10, 2020 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
1 hour presentation with Q&A
Jeff Bridge is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Unusual Edibles
Time: Dec 10, 2020 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88971934589?pwd=T29TZzVrZXlVYVB5bzdkR1dSY3I4Zz09
Meeting ID: 889 7193 4589
Passcode: unusual
One tap mobile
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Meeting ID: 889 7193 4589
Passcode: 3513645
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kec7WlK8no
Papa’s Winter Recommendations
Help reduce the possibility that your xmas tree catches fire by spraying needles with Cloud Cover. Cloud Cover imitates plant’s own outer waxy-cellulose layer which locks in moisture. You will find that trees sprayed with Cloud Cover drink less water and drop less needles as they stay hydrated longer. Cloud Cover also protects Citrus and other subtropical plants from the worst effects of frost.
Cloud Cover Quart Bottle $6.00
Harvest Supreme is an excellent organic amendment which can be laid down as mulch to improve soil quality and keep moisture and warmth locked into the soil layers beneath it. Harvest Supreme contains recycled forest products, composted chicken manure, bark fines, rice hulls, oyster shell lime (as pH adjuster), worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal, and Mycorrhizae innoculent.
2 cu. ft. bag of Harvest Supreme $10.99
Try planting Fava Beans to improve soil aeration and fertility for next year’s spring showcase vegetable garden. Fava plants root systems dig deep into soil and promote colonies of beneficial soil fungus along the way so that the next crop to come along has an easy time rooting out and up-taking nutrients.
1/2 cup Fava $2.00
Prepare for next spring’s end-of-Covid garden rush by getting ahead of the crowd …. starting your own seed with G&B’s OMRI certified organic Seed Start Mix. This light fluffy mix makes starting seed super fast and simple.
12 qt. bag Seed Start Mix $6.99
Chicken Manure laid upon the surface as a mulch warms roots as it decomposes and friendly bacteria and fungus work to make its nutrients available to plants when they come out of dormancy.
1.5 cu. ft. bag Organic Chicken Manure $8.99
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HERE
Ploughshares Nursery trains and employs residents of the
Alameda Point Collaborative supportive
housing community. Ploughshares Nursery is a non-profit social enterprise of the Alameda Point Collaborative supportive housing community. 100% of our sales of drought tolerant, native and edible plants support housing and services for formerly homeless families and individuals living on the old Alameda Naval Base in Alameda CA