By LOIS KINDLE
lekindle@aol.com
From vegetable starts and herbs to fruit trees and hard-to-find plants, the upcoming Apollo Beach Garden Club Fall Plant Sale will offer something for nearly every gardener.
It will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Apollo Beach Community Forest Garden, 664 Golf and Sea Blvd., Apollo Beach. Vendor booths open at 7:30 a.m., and the gates open at 8. Admission is free.
The rain-or-shine, semiannual fundraiser draws hundreds of area gardening enthusiasts to browse an extensive selection of plants grown by club members, discover new varieties and kick off a new gardening season.
“The plant sales are our favorite things to do, and they’re increasingly important to our mission,” said Teresa Hall, club president. “They allow us to share our growing cultivar successes with the community and enable local residents to find success in their own gardens.”
This year’s plant sale offers an array of organically grown plants, including disease-resistant tomato varieties, researched, tested and proven successful in local growing conditions. The Champion II tomato is resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus and root-knot nematodes. The Mortgage Lifter tomato, a large beefsteak variety, shows resistance to Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt and root-knot nematodes.
Other standouts include the Katrina cucumber, a self-pollinating, prolific producer of seven-inch fruits. More than 70 cucumbers have been harvested from a single plant. It’s highly heat tolerant and resistant to powdery mildew, cucumber mosaic virus, cucumber vein yellowing virus and scab.
The Dunja zucchini thrives in hot weather and is another self-pollinating, prolific producer, known for its extended harvest season and resistance to powdery mildew, papaya ringspot virus, watermelon mosaic virus and zucchini yellow mosaic virus.
Other offerings include both sweet and hot peppers, kale, tatsoi and other specialty greens, lettuces, fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, herbs, pineapple plants, Moringa trees, green curry trees, Bangkok Lemon jackfruit seedlings, Strawberry trees, assorted banana pups, native pollinator attractors and more.
Beekeeper Sam Bradshaw, of Sam's Honey Bees, will sell honey, pollen and beeswax; answer questions; and offer advice about bees and beekeeping. Children can collect a queen bee sticker and don a beekeeper's suit for photos.
Also on hand will be Tenacious 12 Farms offering goat milk soap, free-range farm-fresh eggs, pet treats and more; Mushroom Daiquiri Creations, featuring paintings, sculptures and artistic garden accessories; and Tiedye by Lynda (Neal), selling handmade tie-dye T-shirts, hats, tapestries and more.
Garden-themed raffle prizes will be available.
Visitors are invited to become members on the spot to help support the garden and get involved in its mission. They may also take part in complimentary guided tours of the garden and food forest.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the garden relies on its semiannual plant sales to generate much of the revenue needed each year to support programs and maintenance.
Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon, as popular varieties often sell quickly. Staff members will be available throughout the sale to help gardeners select the best plants for their individual needs.
For more information, call or text Hall at 813-310-3204.