Heirloom Veggie Starts Worth the Drive from Santa Cruz: 7 Edible Nurseries North and South

Garden Road Trips

Jun 9

Most of us buy our tomato and pepper starts wherever is closest, and that works fine for a standard Early Girl. But if you want 100 kinds of heirloom tomato, a certified-organic seed rack you can actually browse, or a bare-root fruit tree picked out by someone who grows the variety themselves, it is worth pointing the car up Highway 9 or over Highway 17 for an afternoon.

This is the edible-gardening stop on our Santa Cruz garden road trip. Everything below is a real, currently operating nursery known for food plants: vegetable and herb seedlings, heirloom tomatoes, berries, and fruit trees. All of it sits within roughly a two-hour drive of Santa Cruz, framed north and south so you can build a half-day loop. Drive times are approximate and measured from downtown, and Highway 17 traffic can stretch them, so give yourself room.

A quick honest note before you load up the car. Nursery hours and seasons change, and one of the best stops here is open only in spring. Call ahead or check the website the week you go, especially for the seasonal and the farther stops. We have flagged those below.

Heading north: up Highway 9 and over the hill

The strongest edible-starts run near Santa Cruz heads north. The two closest stops are the ones serious food gardeners drive to on purpose, and then the road keeps going into the South Bay and up the Peninsula.

Mountain Feed and Farm Supply (Ben Lomond)

Town and drive: Ben Lomond, about 20 to 25 minutes north up Highway 9.

This is the closest thing to a homesteader's clubhouse in the San Lorenzo Valley, and it is our top pick for edible starts near town. Mountain Feed carries a full line of organic, standard, and heirloom vegetable and herb seedlings, sourced from local and sustainable growers, plus fruit trees from full-size down to semi-dwarf. The seed rack is the part people make the trip for, stocked with brands like High Mowing, and the staff can talk through varieties in real depth.

One honest detail: it is a feed and farm-supply store as much as a nursery, so the plant yard shares space with chicken supplies, canning gear, and bulk goods. That is part of the charm if you are growing food, and a little much if you only want a six-pack of lettuce.

Hours are generally Monday through Saturday 9:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday 9:00am to 5:00pm. Confirm at mountainfeed.com.

Love Apple Farms (Scotts Valley)

Town and drive: Scotts Valley, about 15 minutes north.

If there is one classic pilgrimage on this list, it is Love Apple Farms. It is a destination nursery built around edible gardening, best known for well over 100 varieties of heirloom and specialty tomato starts, along with other vegetable seedlings and a respected roster of hands-on classes on things like vegetable garden design and drip irrigation.

The catch is that Love Apple is a seasonal spring nursery. Its 2026 season ran March 28 through June 28, daily 10:00am to 5:00pm, at 5311 Scotts Valley Drive, which means it is closed for the year as of late June. Plan this one for next spring, and go early in the season while the variety list is deep. The farm has moved before and is now run by the founder's son, so check next year's season and address at the Love Apple Farms site before you drive over.

Yamagami's Garden Center (Cupertino)

Town and drive: Cupertino, about 45 to 55 minutes north over Highway 17.

Once you crest the hill into the South Bay, Yamagami's is the edible standout. It has been a full-service nursery since 1948 and carries a large selection of organic and conventional vegetables and herbs, a wide heirloom tomato range, Asian vegetables, and popular local herbs. Fresh vegetable shipments come in through the week, roughly Tuesday through Friday, and staff will hand-pick a starter set of tomatoes, peppers, or a mix if you ask.

It sits in a busy Cupertino shopping stretch, so it is an easy add-on if you are already up that way for other errands. Verify current hours at yamagamis.com before you go.

SummerWinds Nursery (Campbell, Cupertino, Palo Alto)

Towns and drive: several South Bay and Peninsula locations, roughly 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 north.

SummerWinds is a regional chain of full-service garden centers with stores in Campbell, Cupertino, Palo Alto, and beyond. It is not a rare-variety destination the way Mountain Feed or Love Apple is, but it reliably stocks tomato plants and vegetable seedlings in season, including organic options. Think of it as a dependable backup or a convenient stop if one branch happens to be on your route.

Hours vary by store, so check the specific location on the SummerWinds locations page.

Wegman's Nursery (Redwood City)

Town and drive: Redwood City, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 north on the Peninsula.

Wegman's is a well-regarded independent Peninsula nursery that carries edibles across the board, with dedicated care resources for vegetables, fruit and citrus trees, and berries and vines, plus special orders if you are after something specific. It is a strong Peninsula stop if your loop runs that far north.

Posted hours are generally Monday through Saturday 8:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday 8:00am to 5:00pm, though they may close in severe weather, so call ahead on a wet day. Details at wegmansnursery.com.

Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (Berkeley)

Town and drive: Berkeley, about 1 hour 30 to 2 hours north, farther in traffic. This one sits at the far edge of the two-hour radius.

For a serious edible gardener, Berkeley Hort is worth the long drive. This century-old institution keeps its vegetable shelves stocked year-round with annual and perennial certified-organic seedlings, carries a seasonal herb selection, and runs an unusually deep seed rack that leans toward certified-organic and heirloom varieties for seed saving. The fruit lineup is broad too, with apples, pears, citrus, kiwi, grapes, apricots, pluots, figs, and berries as available.

Treat this as a planned outing rather than a quick errand. It is generally open 9:00am to 5:00pm most days and closed Thursdays, but confirm at berkeleyhort.com before committing to the drive.

Heading south: the Monterey side

South of Santa Cruz, the dedicated edible-starts scene is thinner than it is up north, so this stretch is short on purpose rather than padded out. There is one solid anchor.

Griggs Nursery (Carmel Valley)

Town and drive: Carmel Valley, about 1 hour south.

Griggs is a family-owned Monterey Peninsula nursery, now in its second generation, carrying locally grown plants that range from vegetable starts to specimen trees. It makes a good south-side anchor if you are already headed toward Carmel or the valley. The homepage leads with ornamentals, so call ahead to confirm the current vegetable-start selection for a specific trip.

Posted hours are generally Monday through Saturday 7:30am to 5:00pm and Sunday 8:30am to 5:00pm. Check griggsnursery.com.

If your trip runs farther south than Salinas, you will find general garden centers but not a comparable edible-starts destination, so for food plants the northern loop is the stronger bet.

Staying close to home: a Santa Cruz edible-starts day

You do not have to leave the county to fill your beds. Santa Cruz has two dependable in-town stops for edible starts, and both put the food-plant angle front and center.

The Garden Company on the Westside is a family-owned independent garden center with a broad selection that includes organic herbs and vegetable starts, an easy 5 to 10 minute stop for seasonal seedlings and supplies (thegardenco.com). San Lorenzo Garden Center near the river downtown is a decades-old institution that gardeners rely on for bulk veggie starts, fruit trees, and berries, along with the practical infrastructure of raised-bed materials, irrigation, and bulk soil (sanlorenzolumber.com/garden-center). Down in Watsonville, Alladin Nursery carries fruits, vegetables, and flowers, though its edible-start selection is a smaller part of the mix, so call ahead if you are after a specific crop.

One more local stop is worth knowing about, not for buying starts but for ideas. The UC Santa Cruz Farm and the Alan Chadwick Garden, run by the campus Center for Agroecology, are a working organic teaching farm and a hillside garden you can walk for free. This is a different place from the UCSC Arboretum. The 30-acre farm and the 3-acre Chadwick Garden are planted with vegetables, herbs, orchards, and flowers grown by organic methods, and both are open to the public daily from 8am to 6pm with no admission, self-guided. You are not allowed to harvest anything, but it is one of the best places on the coast to see how an intensive edible garden is laid out and to gather ideas for your own beds. Check current visiting hours at the Center for Agroecology site before you go.

For the full picture of what each local nursery does best, we already have a companion guide: The 9 Best Plant Nurseries in Santa Cruz County (And What Each Does Best). This road-trip piece stays focused on edible starts and the wider radius, so use that article for the complete local rundown and this one when you are ready to chase heirloom tomatoes over the hill.

Before you go

A few practical notes for an edible-starts run, drawn from how these nurseries actually operate.

Time it for spring. Vegetable-start season peaks in spring, and that is when variety selection is deepest. Love Apple Farms in particular is open spring only, and its 2026 season closed on June 28, so it is a next-spring plan rather than a stop you can make now. Go early in that window for the best tomato choices.
Call ahead, especially midweek and for the farther stops. Hours shift by season and by location, some places close a day or two each week, and a few close in bad weather. Confirm the day before, particularly for Yamagami's, the SummerWinds branches, Griggs, and Berkeley Hort.
Bring a flat box or a tray. Six-packs and four-inch pots tip over on Highway 17. A cardboard box or a nursery tray in the trunk keeps your starts upright and your soil off the seats.
Plan the far edges as their own trip. Berkeley Hort sits at the outer limit of the two-hour radius and is worth it as a planned outing, not a quick errand squeezed into a busy day.
Buy what you can plant soon. Starts do best in the ground within a week or two. Coastal Santa Cruz stays cool and foggy, so give heat-lovers like tomatoes and peppers your warmest, sunniest spot once they are home.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Love Apple Farms from Santa Cruz? About 15 minutes north, in Scotts Valley, at 5311 Scotts Valley Drive. It is the closest of the destination edible nurseries, but it is open in spring only. The 2026 season ended June 28, so it is closed for this year. Plan a visit for next spring and confirm the season before you drive over.

Which of these nurseries are open year-round? Most of them, including Mountain Feed, Yamagami's, Wegman's, Griggs, and Berkeley Hort, operate year-round, though vegetable-start selection is best in spring. Love Apple Farms is the main exception, opening only for its spring season. Always verify current hours on each nursery's own site before you go.

Where can I find the most heirloom tomato varieties near Santa Cruz? Love Apple Farms in Scotts Valley is the standout, with well over 100 heirloom and specialty tomato starts in spring. Mountain Feed in Ben Lomond and Yamagami's in Cupertino also carry strong heirloom selections if you want a year-round or over-the-hill option.

Is there a good edible nursery south of Santa Cruz? Griggs Nursery in Carmel Valley, about an hour south, is the main one, carrying vegetable starts alongside trees and ornamentals. The edible-starts scene is thinner south of Salinas, so the northern stops give you more to choose from.

More from the Santa Cruz Garden Road Trip

This is one stop on a four-part series of garden day trips within reach of Santa Cruz:

Want the local growing calendar to go with your new starts? Our free garden toolkit has seasonal planting guidance for the Central Coast. Grab it at /your-garden-toolkit, and if you are not on the list yet, the Ambitious Harvest newsletter sends practical, California-specific gardening notes you can actually use.

Adrienne Gaughan