For those with a green thumb in Santa Cruz, there is an amazing availability of choices to consider from in starting your own garden. Santa Cruz has an ideal Mediterranean climate for growing just about everything. Grow grapes for wine, olives to make your own olive oil, or keep it simple with succulents to last the whole year long.
It's well known that Santa Cruz county is part of 'wine country', with some of the most amazing pinot grigio's and chardonnays around to host festivals for. However, most don't realize that it is home to a plethora of other great plants as well. Not far from Watsonville is Castroville, home to the annual Artichoke festival. Castroville is famous for the amazing artichokes they are able to grow there, and bring in quite a crowd for their extravaganza.
The Freewheelin' Farm just five miles north of Santa Cruz shows the diversity of what can be grown in our amazing climate. For every season, they grow different varieties of crops to sell locally. We can expect dill, kale, strawberries, and much more for the spring; and apples, avocados, asian pears and more come summertime.
The Bonny Doon Lavender Farm (above) is another great example of the wide breadth of vegetation here. Go on a daytrip, or visit to pick up some of their exquisitely scented items, and see the beauty of a field of lavender including three different varieties. This is one of the few places you may be able to find goat's milk soap, which is surprisingly great for your skin. There they also produce roses, lemons, and other herbs to use for their fragrances and soaps.
But there is one special vegetation that grows all on it's own, and can be said to be more expensive then all the above. Chanterelles, looking like a golden horn, are a naturally growing mushroom in Santa Cruz county that sends it's residents out hunting to find them. This delicatessen mushroom is worth more than one would think, and takes nothing but time and good hunting skills to find. Pair a handful of these amazing mushrooms with some fresh fish caught in the Santa Cruz harbor and you'll have an award worthy home cooked meal.
Come to Santa Cruz, CA and see that when you have everything growing in your backyard, it's the best burden to decide exactly what to furnish your backyard with.
Check out my website at www.petecullen.com to look for listings in this beautiful area and to find more of what Santa Cruz County has to offer.
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