Fall Garden Fair Gardening Talks 2025

Growing Cool Season Vegetables from Seeds or Seedlings

Did you know that we are so lucky that we can grow cool season vegetables in Santa Clara County? It's true! With our cool (but not cold) rainy season, we can grow all sorts of vegetables like greens such as lettuce, chard, and kale, to cruciferous veggies like broccoli or cauliflower, to root vegetables like beets, carrots, and radishes. Come learn what you can grow with Matt Hall, Master Gardener. He'll go over the basics such as soil, water, and fertilizing requirements, and show all the different plants that do great here.

The 3 R's for Fall Soil — Remove, Recover, and Replenish

At the end of our summer growing season, our soil has produced what we hope was a bountiful harvest of summer produce. Now you have to pay the soil back for all this wonderful garden production. And how do we make all this happen? By planting cover crops! Join Master Gardener Bob Bowe to learn how the 3 R's will enrich your soil for the next season's garden.

Growing Microgreens

Microgreens: What are they, why and how to grow them. Promising research shows that microgreens may play an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. Microgreens are easy to grow, use very little space, and can be harvested in 1–3 weeks. Discover how to incorporate these nutritious plants into your gardening repertoire. Join Master Gardener Laura Clark-Moore for a talk and hands-on demonstration.

Planting & Maintaining your New California Native Plants

Now that you've got them, what are you going to do with them? Learn tried and true methods for ensuring that your new babies get the best start possible from prep, to putting them in the ground, to making it through their first year! Join Master Gardener Paula Stapleton to learn about planting and maintaining your California native garden.

The Basics of Kitchen Gardening

New to gardening? Join Master Gardener Kathy Kaplan to learn how to create a kitchen garden, whether large or small, from the ground (soil) up. During this talk, the topics of light requirement, plant selection, soil amendments, and garden location will be discussed. Yes, you will learn that even an apartment balcony is a possibility for your “kitchen garden”.

Garden-to-Glass: Mint Family Plants for Every Pour

Explore the science of mint and its Lamiaceae relatives, and see how their unique characteristics make them indispensable for your beverage garden—a space, large or small, that provides fresh flavors for drinks anytime of day. Learn how to grow and keep them under control, then harvest and enjoy these versatile plants in refreshing, garden-fresh beverages.

Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly) Quarantine in Santa Clara County

Join the team from the California Department of Food and Agriculture as they cover the Medfly quarantine in Santa Clara County and explain their plan for trapping and eradication. Learn what to look for and find out how you can help. 

Garlic Demo

Join Master Gardener Kathy Kaplan for a demonstration to learn how to grow your own garlic in time for fall planting.

Cover Crops, Hands-on Demonstration

Now that you want to plant a cover crop, how do you actually do it? What effort does it take? (Answer = not much!) What rewards do you receive by having a cover crop?  (A lot!) Join Master Gardeners Jim Bell and Bob Bowe for a hands-on and how-to cover crop demonstration. We'll show preparation of a planting area, seeding, growing, and management of the cover crop from fall to spring.