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Adrienne Gaughan 5/5/26 Adrienne Gaughan 5/5/26

Growing Roma Tomatoes in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden in Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek, whether you can grow a Roma depends almost entirely on which part of your property you are standing in. The SLV is a split reality: sunny ridges can do it, shaded redwood canyons cannot.

Adrienne Gaughan 4/9/26 Adrienne Gaughan 4/9/26

Growing Potatoes in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden under the redwoods of Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek, potatoes are one of the more forgiving crops you can grow. They do not demand the blazing sun a tomato needs, they like the valley's cool air, and the main thing you have to read is your frost pockets and y

Adrienne Gaughan 3/31/26 Adrienne Gaughan 3/31/26

Growing Meyer Lemons in the San Lorenzo Valley

Honest answer first: the San Lorenzo Valley is a poor fit for citrus in the ground. Redwood shade, acidic soil, and cold-air frost pockets all work against a Meyer lemon. There is a real workaround, but it is a container on a sunny ridge, not a tree in the canyon.

Adrienne Gaughan 3/4/26 Adrienne Gaughan 3/4/26

Growing Persimmons in the San Lorenzo Valley

A persimmon is one of the better deciduous fruit trees for the San Lorenzo Valley, and it suits the place well. The valley's cooler inland winters give the tree plenty of the chill it barely needs anyway, and persimmons are tough, low-maintenance trees that handle cold better tha

Adrienne Gaughan 2/10/26 Adrienne Gaughan 2/10/26

Growing Sungold Cherry Tomatoes in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden in Felton, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, or anywhere among the SLV ridges and canyons, your success with Sungold comes down to one honest question: how much real sun does your spot actually get? Answer that first, and everything else follows.

Adrienne Gaughan 1/27/26 Adrienne Gaughan 1/27/26

Growing Low-Chill Peaches and Nectarines in the San Lorenzo Valley

The San Lorenzo Valley flips the usual coastal peach problem on its head. Up in the redwood canyons and on the valley ridges, you actually bank more winter chill than the warm Banana Belt or the foggy coast, which opens up more peach varieties. But the valley trades that gift for

Adrienne Gaughan 12/22/25 Adrienne Gaughan 12/22/25

Growing Heritage Apples in the San Lorenzo Valley

The San Lorenzo Valley is good heritage apple country, with one important rule: get the tree onto a sunny ridge or upper slope. The valley's cool winters bank plenty of the chill apples need, and its classic varieties thrive here. The catch is the shade. Apples want sun, and this

Adrienne Gaughan 12/16/25 Adrienne Gaughan 12/16/25

Growing Romaine Lettuce in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden under the redwoods of Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek, you know the frustration of growing fruiting crops in dappled shade. Lettuce is the happy exception. For a cool-season green, the valley's shade is not a problem to overcome. It is an asset.

Adrienne Gaughan 12/9/25 Adrienne Gaughan 12/9/25

Growing Southern Highbush Blueberries in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden in Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek, you have quietly been handed the best blueberry soil in Santa Cruz County. The acidic redwood ground that frustrates so many other crops is exactly what blueberries want.

Adrienne Gaughan 11/16/25 Adrienne Gaughan 11/16/25

Growing Grapes in the San Lorenzo Valley

The San Lorenzo Valley sits at the heart of one of California's most distinctive grape-growing landscapes. Above the summer fog line, on the sunny ridges that define the Santa Cruz Mountains, grapes are not just possible here. They are part of the region's identity.

Adrienne Gaughan 9/5/25 Adrienne Gaughan 9/5/25

Growing Eureka Lemons in the San Lorenzo Valley

If you garden in the San Lorenzo Valley, in the shaded canyons and redwood-lined creek bottoms around Felton, Ben Lomond, and Boulder Creek, a Eureka or Lisbon lemon is a marginal proposition. This is the coldest, shadiest part of the county for citrus, and a true acid lemon, whi