Text and photos by Marla Koss, additional photo credits to Holly Johnson
JANUARY: The holidays are over. Things are finally quiet for most. But Alameda Backyard Growers’ Spring Plant Sale organizers are just getting revved up. They have a mere three-and-a-half months to raise hundreds of tomato, vegetable, herb and flower starts from seed, in time to be sold in mid-April at Alameda Recreation and Parks’ Spring Shindig.
Settling in with seed catalogs or hunting online for the absolute best for our quirky climate and island soil, this is one job taken very seriously. Using tomato varieties as an example, those chosen must be:
- early to mid-season varieties, because they stand the best chance of ripening in foggy summers
- disease-resistant (especially against certain blights, wilts and nematodes)
We make lists. We spend a little time deciding what to order. Seeds, special seedling potting mix, special 3-3-3 fertilizer, various sizes of plastic nursery pots and maybe a seedling heating mat or two are ordered. Timing will be everything in the next few weeks.
FEBRUARY: Flower and herb seeds should be started indoors at the beginning of February. Starting tomato seeds at the beginning of February is okay, if a little early (starting tomatoes indoors mid-February is actually the best). They all will spend their germinating and cotyledon/seedling weeks in the luxury of strong indoor light on top of warming mats, and won’t need to sunbathe outside for maybe a month yet.
MARCH: The very beginning of March is the absolute latest we can start tomato seeds indoors and hope to have nice little plants ready for sale in mid-April. Or, if a first bunch of tomato, flower or herb seeds has failed, this is the last chance for us to plant some more trays of seeds!
Usually the third week of March is when seedlings planted in February are slowly acclimated to the outdoors, an hour or two at a time at first, preferably in weak sunlight or light shade. The object is to build up their capacity to sit outdoors gradually over about ten days, shifting the flats of seedlings around outside to control how much sun they receive; this is called “hardening off”. When we begin to leave them outdoors both day and night, we usually place them under tables, benches, etc. to shelter them from too much cold or rain, and shift them around again to the most advantageous spots once daylight comes and/or the rain stops.
By the end of March, the tomato starts can be pulled out of the six-packs their seeds germinated in and transplanted into 3.5” pots (or Solo cups) using fresh seedling starting mix and more 3-3-3 fertilizer. Volunteers not only crowd around the table to do this delicate work, they write the names of the plant varieties on white plastic plant labels by the hundreds. In fact, on April 15, 2023 ABG sold over 500 plants started from seed.
APRIL: By April Fool’s Day, there are many little jobs to stay on top of, and more lists to make. Signs big and little are made; lists of descriptions of all the plant starts are put together; a price list is decided on; volunteer jobs for the event are spoken for.
The day of ABG’s Spring Plant Sale / ARPD’s Spring Shindig actually starts the evening before. Volunteers arrive at the location where the plants are and shove big trays of them in their trunks, on empty seats or in cargo areas, the better to make an early start the next morning; it takes 7 vehicles to carry all the plants, equipment and supplies.
Setup goes quickly the next morning, and soon attendees are making a beeline to ABG’s booth area. ABG Plant Sale organizers/plant growers Birgitt Evans and Marla Koss are joined by fellow plant growers Jennifer McGaffey, Dora Chun-Christman and Sarah Miller, plus event volunteers Mary Clare James, Linda Carloni, Claude Batholomew, Carolyn Mason, Cynthia LaCroix and Holly Johnson.
Plant grower extraordinaire Birgitt Evans answering questions.
While parents shop, kids make wildflower seed balls or stay relatively immaculate coloring big line art pages full of butterflies, ladybugs, flowers and leaves. Dora and Mary Clare keep an eye on them and help them play with the dampened clay-compost-wildflower seed muck.
Jennifer McGaffey and Claude Batholomew restocking plant starts as fast as they can.
The cashier’s table is understandably popular.
Cashiers Linda, Holly and Carolyn April 15, 2023
Alameda Backyard Growers would like to thank everyone who helped make this event a success! ABG volunteers sold out all but a few of its plants, donations were offered and a nice chunk of change was raised to support ongoing programs Project Pick, Free Seed Libraries, various workshops and ABG’s own charitable giving).
Kudos also to ARPD for a lively, well-attended Spring Shindig 2023 and its thoughtful support of local non-profit organizations.