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Taste tomatoes with superstar hybridizer Brad Gates

Green Acres hosts special event at its Auburn location

New varieties and old favorites will be among the tomatoes available for tasting at Green Acres in Auburn on Aug. 31.

New varieties and old favorites will be among the tomatoes available for tasting at Green Acres in Auburn on Aug. 31. Courtesy Green Acres Nursery & Supply

Here’s an opportunity to get your tomato questions answered – and discover some great tasting varieties to plant next year.

On Saturday, Aug. 31, Green Acres Nursery & Supply at Eisley’s in Auburn will host a special tomato tasting event featuring recent introductions as well as old standards – with an extra-special guest, tomato superstar Brad Gates. 

From 10 a.m. to noon, sample tomatoes in a rainbow of colors and a wide range of flavor intensities. (They all basically taste like tomatoes, but – as gardeners know – some are sweeter and more flavorful than others.)

In addition, Gates will talk about tomatoes in a 30-minute presentation starting at 10 a.m.

Admission and parking are free; no advance registration necessary.

“Join us for a delightful tomato tasting event on Saturday, Aug. 31, at our Auburn location,” say the hosts. “Sample new and traditional varieties to add to your planting list next season. Tomatoes will be provided by a few of our exceptional garden gurus, grown right in the Sacramento region!”

Leading the discussion will be the event’s speaker – legendary hybridizer Brad Gates, who has made homegrown tomatoes more colorful as well as flavorful. Recapping this challenging season as well as his own new hybrids, Gates will give a tomato talk at 10 a.m.

Man in cap
Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms

“Get the inside scoop on growing tomatoes from Brad Gates, founder and cultivator of Wild Boar Exotic Tomatoes,” say the hosts.

Wild Boar Farms is famous for its multicolored varieties with crazy names such as Berkeley Tie-Dye, Pork Chop, Cosmic Eclipse and Brad’s Atomic Grape. Wild Boar produces “the most outrageous tomato varieties available on the planet,” Gates says on his website. “Our focus is in breeding stunning-looking tomato varieties with extreme flavor. ...

“Our tomato varieties are the result of many years of hard work growing tens of thousands of plants, being very picky about seed selection and capitalizing on some amazing gifts from Mother Nature.”

Green Acres is located at 380 Nevada St., Auburn.

Details and directions: https://idiggreenacres.com/.

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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